yumemigaoka | December catch-all ♫

Entry tags:

December catch-all ♫

⭐ Who: Lisa and you!
⭐ When: All through December
⭐ Where: Check individual top-levels
⭐ What: The best way to keep her mind off things is to keep working! As it happens, she's got a fair bit of work to do, not that she thinks of it as such.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's not a big secret that Lisa enjoys baking. It's also not a secret that she uses it as a way to appreciate people around her, and occasionally to make new friends. But the last few months have given her a lot of people she wants to thank, and so she's rolling up her sleeves and preparing to feed a small army. That would be fine, but for a moment, there's a real chance she's going to buy up all the unsalted butter in Koubai. So she goes afield for further ingredients at certain points.

As a result, Lisa can be found out and about with her tote bag, red scarf around her neck and fuzzy gloves on her hands, grabbing ingredients ~~rain~~ snow or shine. Vanilla, four kinds of sugar, eggs, icing tubes and tips, clear gift bags, it's all going into the bag at her shoulder, which seems to be getting heavy, as she's once again listing to the side it's slung over as she walks. Is she trying to make enough for the entire Dreamer Union or something? The jury's out, but she's definitely got a Major Project in mind. At one or two points she can be found looking over the food coloring, looking both at the quality and the colors with a critical eye, holding a disposable bag in one hand. Anything she decides she wants, she drops gently into the plastic bag, but she's being pretty choosy.

...as the week drags on, there's some flour in her hair, though, in different places each time you might see her. And a couple bandages on her fingertips. Aaaaand a more serious gauze patch on the back of her right hand by the 8th or so. Still, she carries on. The smell of vanilla is probably detectable from three feet away. It's... probably not a problem?]

[Amane's been something of a busy bee himself this season, braving the cold and buzzing about the city in hopes of finding a decent gift for the (admittedly few) people upon his list. He already had something of an idea of what to do for them, but... every time he was sure he had settled on the perfect thing, something else caught his eye that seemed to be a better gift instead. Maybe he should just be grateful that items couldn't be brought over to the Dream Sphere, because if he had to shop for all the Dreamers he knew on top of this, he'd never survive December. (Not to mention be flat broke in the process--)

He's lingering about the selection of hot chocolate mixes, overwhelmed by the amount of choices (what in the world was a Dreamy Cocoa Bomb??), when the sweet scent of vanilla tickles his nose. Curious, he glances up from the wall, wondering if he was just imagining things, when a familiar head of brown hair catches his eye. Was that... Lisa? With her visits to Camellia, he was starting to become a lot less nervous around her-- or at least, less nervous at the prospect of her figuring out who he was, anyway-- so he's comfortable enough now to trot over to where she was shopping, hand raised in greeting--

... but then he pauses, realizing she was deeply focused doing... something or other. Quality checking food coloring, maybe?? He's quiet as he approaches behind her, hoping he could get a better idea of what she was up to, but... nope, still not a clue.]

... looking for something in particular there, Lisa-san?

[AMANE, PLS.... WE'RE NOT IN THE DREAM SPHERE, DON'T JUMP-SCARE PEOPLE]

[She's too focused on her task, holding a bottle of baker's-grade blue, when the voice from right behind her (and just a touch down) comes to her and she jumps out of her skin. Or at least half a meter off the ground, as she wheels, barely having the presence of mind not to drop the food coloring.]

A-Amane-kun! Oh, you scared me!

[Her eyes are blown wide, but she didn't scream! Progress...? In any event, she lets out a long breath, before smiling at him.]

Um. I'm not super happy with the icing I'm making, so I need to see if I can fix the color, even if I have to re-make it. I think the food coloring I had was old.

[OOP..... gotta love the perks of not having much of a physical presence!! Not that he intended to spook Lisa that badly, though-- probably not a good look in public-- and he holds up his hands in hasty apology.]

Ah-- sorry, sorry...!! [BUT IS HE REALLY, THOUGH] You just seemed so caught up in what you were doing, I didn't want to interrupt...

[But... icing, huh...? Now that he was able to get a better look at her, the white dusting her hair and the intense scent of vanilla radiating off of her was starting to make more sense. He'd definitely seen a similar scene, when he and Tsukasa tried to bake a cake for Ai one year for her birthday, but there was a lot more burned hair involved...

His eyes slide over to the food coloring in her hands, however, leaning in and tilting his head a little as he observes it. She was putting an awful lot of effort into whatever this project was, huh...?]

Does the age really affect the color, though? I thought they were like... edible dyes or something. Those sort of things never expire, right?

[SPOKEN AS A BOY WHO'S NEVER PROPERLY BAKED BEFORE IN HIS LIFE]

[Okay, heart rate coming back under control... seriously, Amane's a good kid 90 percent of the time, but he's bad for her health. It's. It's fine...]

I appreciate your discretion, ahaha... But yeah! Food color is kind of a dye, but they're more like chemicals. So the ingredients come apart and don't mix back together the same way, or the color shifts as it ages. [A slightly more pointed look, as she shakes it softly, the liquid coating the sides of the small bottle.] And like any other thing you eat, you don't want to keep them forever - they don't go bad like, say, milk or bread, but you still want to get fresh ones every so often.

[She drops the bottle of food coloring into the bag in her other hand, ties it shut, and then shifts to drop it into her tote... at which point it brushes the gauze patch, and she hisses, but completes the action with a somewhat pained expression. Which she immediately realizes she doesn't want to show him. Um, um-]

I feel like this isn't your usual hangout spot, though - are you looking for something?

[Amane keeps his attention upon the food coloring as she explains, inputting polite "ooooh"s of acknowledgement when appropriate. Chemistry wasn't the vein of science he was most invested in (that honor fell to earth science and physics), but it was still interesting to hear about all the same. Who knew this sort of stuff could be so finicky?

He's about to open his mouth to comment upon it, when Lisa's hiss of pain throws him off guard, and his eyes dart from the cringe upon her face to her injury. Weird-- how did he miss that huge gauze pad before this?? Maybe he'd been more keen on figuring out what she was doing with the dye than paying attention to the bag in her other hand, but now that he'd seen it, he's kicking himself for not noticing it. Before he has a chance to ask about it, though, she blindsides him with that change in subject, and he blinks at her for a moment or two, looking bewildered.]

Um-- just some things to round out Christmas gifts and stuff. I've got a few ideas, but I don't really know what to do for my Secret Santa...

[But... no, he wasn't about to talk about his own errands when clearly something more concerning was going on here?? Amane wasn't exactly a stranger to heavier duty bandages (getting injured when one was on blood thinners made things messier than they should be), but he had a feeling his reasons didn't necessarily apply to Lisa in this case.]

... you okay, though? That bandage looks kinda serious. [A beat, and then, in an attempt dispel the tension a little bit:] Your rosemary isn't giving you that hard of a time, is it?

[She's kind of happy that her off-hand lecture on food coloring actually holds his interest! Unfortunately, that happiness is quickly lost in a brief haze of pain. Oh, stupid Lisa, you're pushing yourself too hard... now she's going to worry Amane, who sees through her attempt to change the subject and distract him almost immediately. She lets out a soft sigh and makes a mental note to come back to his Christmas shopping.]

Sorry, I guess I shouldn't be trying to hide it. And no, Akashi-san was... [The smile on her face is enough to push the wince aside for a bit.] Very helpful at their plant clinic. My rosemary is... better, now. But I'm stalling again. [Lisa shakes her head.] I'm fine, I've just been a little careless doing my holiday baking. [She holds up her now-free hand, wiggling her fingers to show off the bandages.] Most of these are little burns. Brushed something I shouldn't have, tried to move stuff that wasn't quite cool yet. The other one is... not so little. I'm still not entirely sure what I did, but my potholder slipped, and then there was a 190-degree pan on the back of my hand.

[His expression turns a bit wry at the mention of Shinsha's, and he can't help but mutter:]

They better be, if they were going to start criticizing our pots like that...

[Yes, he's still a little salty about that-- not that they were wrong in the assessment or anything, but it's not like Amane potted them in the first place!! Stop blaming him for everything, Shinsha, jeez!!

Still, he's quiet as Lisa describes what happened, the bandages on her fingers giving him a twinge of nostalgia. The twins had been discouraged from the kitchen over the years for their own good (and also for the good of those around them, no doubt), but it hadn't quite stopped Amane and Tsukasa from attempting to make something time to time when the desire struck them. Of course, one of those attempts involved trying to speed run a sheet of cookies by setting the oven to 260C, which went as well as one would expect....

Amane can't help but wince at that last bit though, his hand flinching at the very thought. OOF. No wonder she had the serious business bandage on-- that got to have hurt. He tries to smooth it over with a smile and a gentle joke, though there's still a bit of a worried tinge to it all.]

I guess maybe I should have pushed an aloe plant on you instead, huh? You probably would have gotten a lot more mileage out of it by now. But... hopefully that's the last of it, right? The, uh-- oven-related part to all that baking, I mean. Your hands definitely look like they need a break from any hot metals.

[Or a break in general, really! A thought occurs to him then, though, and after a brief, tentative pause:]

Or... I could take that bag off your hands, for a little while...?

[She can't help a little bit of an indulgent grin at Amane's indignant defense of the pot he'd sold her the rosemary in. But she very much notices the flinch and the wince, and she feels... well, not particularly badly, it's something she did to herself, and he did ask. But perhaps he didn't need the details, for his own safety. Still...]

Not... quite. I have a little bit more baking to do, for a few gifts I want to still be soft when I'm ready to give them. But I've upgraded to oven gloves for the rest of the season - they're like big, heat-resistant mittens that come down to about here or so, [she says with a gesture to a point just past her wrist,] so I can't actually drop one. But most of my remaining work is with frosting and icing and sprinkles, yeah! Don't get me wrong, though, I'll probably be back for an aloe plant. I know myself too well to think I won't need it... sooner rather than later.

[Lisa blinks at his offer, and visibly considers for a moment. She doesn't need a lot of stuff today - not nothing, but not another five kilos of butter like a couple days ago - and while she doesn't strictly need the help, she appreciates what he's trying to do.]

Hmm... I could get by without, but I could certainly use the help. Tell you what - I brought some of the fresh cookies, just in case. If you wouldn't mind keeping me company for a little bit, we can swing back to Camellia after and share a few over tea? I can always use another taste-tester, and I can try and help you with your shopping, too.

[His brow furrows just a bit when she mentions the extra baking that needs to be done-- just how many has she made at this point?? Or rather, how many people is she planning to give them to??-- but from the sounds of it, she's prepared herself for the last stretch, so perhaps there was nothing to worry about. Though that does raise the question over what she was using, exactly, to get them out of the oven beforehand, but...

Speaking of cookies, though, his eyes light up at Lisa's own offer, the prospect of free, handmade sweets temporarily overriding his reticence and tapping into something more giddy and excited instead.]

Fresh cookies...?? Really?!

[It's times like these you can really see where the Hanako persona comes from, huh........ although he does manage to catch himself before he got too carried away, tempering down his eagerness to something a bit more manageable.]

I mean-- y-yeah, we can do that...! [And, with a bit of a sly smile:] And I can make sure you don't leave without some aloe, either. If you got more baking to do after this, I think you're definitely going to need it.

[If not the whole plant, then at least some clippings-- aloe was fairly hardy, so one of their pots wouldn't mind the surprise haircut if it came down to it. He holds out his hands to accept her bag, should she decide to offer it to him, the gesture an automatic one after all of the years he's spent coming along with his mom on these sorts of trips.]

To be honest, I'm not really sure what to do with my own shopping, though. I thought about buying some snacks to put into everyone's gifts, but... I'm not really sure what they'd all like, y'know? It'd be kinda a waste to get something they wouldn't want to eat. And I don't really have a clue what my Secret Santa is into, either, aside from cute things...

[He doesn't trust her, does he. Not that Lisa can blame him. She's so bad at taking care of herself some days, she could probably have told him she was taking baking sheets out of the oven with her bare hands and he'd have believed her. So in a way, she's glad he forgets all about it for a second when she offers him cookies... although, boy, that sudden shift and enthusiasm, followed by locking onto her tendency to get hurt and offering help, really is conspicuous. Isn't it, Hanako-kun?

The moment the thought crosses her mind, her eyes shoot open wide, and every other inkling stops cold. She'd been a little suspicious of Amane for a while now, of that nagging feeling she knew him from somewhere else, but now that it's clicked, she can't unsee it. It doesn't change a whole lot, but it's a way to explain some things, not least how he gets into the DU, and why it seems like he knows her in a lot more detail than she's shown him. But, she thinks, as the adrenaline from making the connection bleeds off like some kind of high school detective, does it even need to change how she treats him? It doesn't seem like it. Slowly, Lisa lets out a breath, and she relaxes. If anything, it means he understands her more than he lets on, and that means she doesn't need to stand on ceremony with him quite so much.]

Oh, I definitely will. Not that I want to plan on burning myself any further, but... I know how I get. Guess we should get a move on, then, huh? [Seeing Amane reach out to take her tote, she quickly removes her Sandglass from it, before handing the bag over. The Sandglass then gets clipped onto her purse. Just in case. Her tote isn't super heavy right now; other than the food coloring she'd just dropped in, a couple bags of cookies, a couple finished scarves, a few rolls of yarn, and her needles, it's more or less empty. That's... not nothing, but he shouldn't have trouble with it, probably.]

But, anyway... The most important part about a gift is that you thought about the other person when you picked it, even if it doesn't turn out to be something they use all the time or were super excited about. Your job is to show them you care. [Her gaze moves back from him to the tote he's holding.] It's part of why I'm so big on crafts. Being able to say that I put my own time and effort and sweat - and, yes, blood, sometimes - into a thing I made... [She looks back at Amane, warmth in her expression.] I want to be able to tell someone they were important enough to me that it was worth it to do that for them.

Um, so even if you don't know for sure, let's think about it a little bit, and make your best guess. Even if it doesn't go over perfectly, you tried your best, yeah?

Edited (typo) 2024-01-05 01:41 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

December catch-all ♫

Tomoe-24 (around Koubai) and Matsuba World Market, almost daily December 1st to 10th

December 9th, Matsuba World Market

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject