(second miracle) Wednesday: BBS + cafeteria, lunchtime

[bunnypassingby]

if anyone would like some free cookies, i'll have a table in the cafeteria at lunchtime today. i learned how to make them in home economics and it's the first thing in the kitchen i've been good at making since i left home, so i started making them in my free time too and now i have too many to eat on my own.

mikuru



[Mikuru not only has a table, but a sign in front of it. "FREE COOKIES, have as many as you want" is meticulously hand lettered; apparently this is what she is putting her remedial English lessons to use on. There are also cutesy pictures of a flower and a happy cookie. Hey, it worked in her last job.

[The cookies are mostly circular, though there are a few that seem to have gone wrong. Chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodles; they're separated out and piled on labelled plates. And there are loads of them.

[Mikuru herself, meanwhile, sits behind the table in her cadet uniform, nibbling on a sammich and frowning at a small note instead of the criminal justice textbook open on the table.]

Comments

[BBS]

[fierybluebird]

Free cookies? Sweet! Thanks!

Re: [BBS]

[bunnypassingby]

no problem1 i'm sure i'm not the only one who gets a little tired of the cafeteria food sometimes.

Re: [BBS]

[fierybluebird]

That and getting to use the kitchens outside of class is relatively rare.

Re: [BBS]

[bunnypassingby]

i think they're getting tired of me asking to practise all the time.

Re: [BBS]

[fierybluebird]

Well, that's definitely a good thing at least.

[zeroth-card.livejournal.com]

[Because Minato will, of course, be there when the offer of free food rings out, he takes a chocolate chip cookie from the plate and goes check on Mikuru.]

Wow, when you put your mind to doing something you go all out, huh?

[bunnypassingby]

[Mikuru is staring so intently at the note that she drops it when he speaks to her, but she recovers quickly.]

Yeah... [She smiles shyly, thinking of other things she's gone all out on when she puts her mind to it, and how no one's really noticed this about her.] I wanted to make sure making them in class wasn't just a fluke, so I tried again, and kept practising, and then... [She waves a hand at all the cookies, pretty proud of herself.]

[zeroth-card.livejournal.com]

[Minato notices the note, but he won't ask about it yet. It might just be something trivial, so no point bringing it up immediately.]

...and when you realized you had mastered it, you had more cookies than you could safely eat by yourself? Well, better to do too much than too little, especially when you leave enough to share. [He takes a bite off the cookie to savor it.]

[bunnypassingby]

[Mikuru watches him eat it a little anxiously.]

Do you like it...?

[zeroth-card.livejournal.com]

[Minato finishes chewing after a bit and swallows it, his eyes widening.] ...wow. This is good! I mean, really good. Mind if I take a few more?

[haha-steelguard.livejournal.com]

[Cookies?!]

[Snow's on the scene and helping himself in record time.]

Hey, these look great!

[Some Instructor dignity, huh?]

[bunnypassingby]

[What Instructor dignity? Mikuru just smiles.] I hope you like them, Instructor!

[haha-steelguard.livejournal.com]

[He pauses in scarfing them as if he were starving.] Yeah, they're good! I'd even say they're better than I could make, so you know that's a compliment.

[bunnypassingby]

[That is one hell of a compliment. Forget glowing, Mikuru is practically luminescent with pride.] Do you like baking as well?

[haha-steelguard.livejournal.com]

I used to do it a lot back in the day. Cooking in general. I had to learn how a little, otherwise I'd have nothing to eat but fast food and junk.

[werepanther]

[Cookies! Tom eagerly takes one or two before nodding his head in her direction:] Hey, thanks. These're pretty good.

[bunnypassingby]

[Mikuru beams.] No problem!

[werepanther]

Yeah? I'm impressed. Only Ma could've made something this good.

[bunnypassingby]

[Her smile softens as she thinks of her own mother.] You grew up with homemade cooking, then?

[werepanther]

Huh? Oh, yeah, I did, but... Ma's just Ma Hunkel. [He laughs, his own face softening as he takes another cookie] She makes things for us back home all the time; I'm friends with her granddaughter, Maxine, so I got to sample her stuff often.

My mom was a good cook, but she passed away a couple of years back.

[queenmercedes.livejournal.com]

[The BBS notice didn't interest Mercedes very much, although when she was in the cafeteria, she noticed a couple people come and go to the table. And that made her curious, so she went over to investigate.

Silently she approached the table, abandoning her lunch tray several tables away... that she may remember to go back and dispose of properly, but it was one of those habits she still hadn't caught onto.

She glanced at the sign, then eyed the cookies spread out once she's next to the table.]

Why are there so many?

[bunnypassingby]

[Mikuru smiles sheepishly.] My first batch outside of class was to make sure I didn't just get lucky when I made them in class, and then I wanted to practise to make sure I got them right, and then...

[She indicates the cookies, though she's eying Mercedes's wings. They're pretty; she's been curious about them in class, too. And they remind her of her roommate.] Would you like some?

[queenmercedes.livejournal.com]

[Almost as if Mercedes was subconsciously aware of the attention to her wings, they shifted idly after she leaned in to look more closely at a bunch of snickerdoodle cookies. She lifted her eyes to Mikuru a moment, but said nothing to her as she reached out to pick up a single cookie. As she stood straight, she tilted and turned the cookie in her hand in order to look at it from every possible angle. Once that was done, she raised it to her nose to make sure it didn't smell unpleasant before she cautiously nibbled off a few crumbs into her mouth.

It wasn't anything personal against Mikuru's cooking. If anyone had ever watched Mercedes eat before, they would know that this was typical. She still didn't completely trust the choice of cruise there was in this world, so everything new was treated as if it may possibly turn out to be the most vile thing she has ever tasted.]

[bunnypassingby]

Um... You're not going to taste much if you eat it like that...

[As if to show that they're not poisonous or anything, Mikuru also picks up a cookie, but she eats a decent bite out of it. After swallowing, she smiles awkwardly at Mercedes.]

[queenmercedes.livejournal.com]

[It's not poison she's worried about, and while Mikuru eating a cookie doesn't convince Mercedes that she should trust it. Maybe she had a bad experience with the cookies that were made during her own home economics class?]

I am not in any hurry.

[And to prove it, she takes another small bite... that is little more than her dragging an end of the cookie over her teeth.]