Bug Buddy Playdate [V-Day 2020 - Scarab]

Maybe it was something she took off Kenny, or that that little habit of his rubbed off onto her, but for more hands-on learning situations, it was clear that she was quite the quick learner herself. Just ask Kenny. Or Valt. Or Ophelia. And all things considered? For an amateur, she seemed to be doing quite good in her kneading efforts, actually. And with the dough now in the fridge, after washing her hands to clear the residue off them and subsequently towelling them dry, she would pull out a wooden mortar and pestle set to put the berries in to crush and mix them.

She did appreciate the extra bit of help that Scarab gave with getting the berries out of her trusty bag; it did help to save a bit of time on that end. Plenty of time for her to now grip the bowl in one hand, with the other, gently but firmly grinding and smooshing the berries to eventually meld them into a fine, and admittedly sweet smelling, paste.

But her focus, and subsequent gaze, still fell upon Scarab, and his brief pause made the Valaismon tilt her head with a look of worry starting to form upon her face. And it would only increase as he explained his circumstances, her grinding slowing down to at least give her a chance to listen properly. And by the time he finished, her ears had drooped to the sides of her head, and the grinding had completely, well, grinded to a halt, leaving a half unfinished mush, still partially blended together, as Skadi left it on the table, and her body turned to face the Wormmon fully.

For a moment, she was lost for words as she tilted her head down with a sad sigh, unsure of what to say to him, leaving her to twiddle her fingers nervously once more as her mind raced to find the right words. Only when she felt she did, she would tilt her head right back up, "Oh, I- I'm sorry, Scarab."  She rubbed at the side of her head, "...I... uh... I just didn't know that until now."

God, now she felt like a big piece of shit for bringing her own family up to him.

She walked over and lightly patted the Wormmon on the back, giving him a sympathetic smile as she turned her head close to him, "You know, maybe sometime after this, I could ask Kenny if I can invite you and Hisato into our household for a sleepover or something. Maybe to play some games together, bake some nice treats with each other? Make you guys feel like part of a real family, if that's OK with you?"

It wasn't exactly everyday that Skadi would throw out a lifeline like this, but it was like her to help out whenever she could. From what she knew so far, Scarab was a nice fellow, with a bit of a snarky side, but lacking a bad bone within his body. It was only right she would toss a lifeline to him even in a time like this.

Even when Scarab seemed all too happy to point out that she wasn't exactly at fault for steering the conversation into more personal territory, she still rubbed her arm a little in embarrassment. Was this a bad habit of Kenny's that just rubbed off onto Skadi as well like moss onto a hapless clam? To essentially apologise for even the most simple or harmless mistakes that would barely raise an eyebrow at worse?

Wouldn't be surprising if that was the case, honestly.

But surprisingly enough? If anything, Scarab looked way to be on board with Skadi's idea, even noticing the benefits it could bring to the table for Hisato as well. And honestly? Upon hearing that, the Valaismon would give quite the keen nod to him. He seemed like a good kid. Maybe he could benefit from feeling like if he was in a real family, even if it was just for a day or two.

But Scarab also raised a good point as well; when would be a good time to invite the boys over? Skadi found herself unconsciously rubbing her chin with her hand for a good few moments as she gave it a good think, "Hmmm... how about... next weekend, if it sounds good to you guys." She suggested, "I think that'd be the best time for the both of us, if that's OK with you. Unless you have a better time?"

It was a wild guess at this point, but hopefully, with a more common date like this, hopefully this could gel with Scarab at least.

Next Sunday? Going by Skadi's little ear twitch, she did seem to think that was a good idea; Kenny didn't have anything exactly planned so far, outside of a lazy Sunday. And essentially giving both of them what they needed - the chance to have a proper friend for Hisato, and the chance for Kenny to possibly get someone to help as a fellow Tamer.

In short, it was a win-win for all parties involved.

Needless to say, Skadi was quick to nod in agreement to the Wormmon's suggestion... only for her ear to give another larger, longer twitch the mere microsecond Scarab reminded her of the thing they were supposed to do: finishing off the pie. Well, shit. Turned out, during this little chat, this ended up nearly slipping from her mind. "Oh, sorry, Scarab," She chuckled a little awkwardly, reaching out for the mortar and pestle once more, "Give me a minute..."

It wasn't exactly easy to juggle everything here; she still grinded away at the lumpy goo that used to be the mixed berries as she went to the fridge, using her egg-shaped nose to open the door. She would only stop the grinding for a brief moment, using a free hand to balance the plate of pastry on her head, and close the door. By the time she got back, the 'berries' were now all fully unrecognisable, blended together, colourful goo.

Just enough so that, as soon as she put the bottom crust into the tin, she would be quick to follow it up to fill the crust up with the filling, and seal it with the top crust, before taking it over to the now warm oven, putting a mitt over her arm and gently putting the pie inside.

As she shut the door, she chuckled a little in embarrassment, "Sorry, Scarab, I guess we talked so long. making that pie must have slipped way out of my mind." At least something like this wasn't exactly going to set the world on fire or make everything go to Hell.

Who knew Scarab had such a way with words?

Be it battle, or more mundane tasks like mashing the berries into paste, Skadi could be well and truly laser focused from beginning to end. Yet, hearing Scarab's praise made her ears twitch once more, and only then would she pause and giggle with embarrassment, a light blush forming over her face as she tried to cover it with her hand holding the crusher.

If anything, however, Scarab couldn't miss it from a mile away. It was all over the front of her egg shaped head.

But to answer Scarab's question... "Oh, uh, hold on a second." She walked back over to the cookbook once more and darted her eyes towards the instructions for that particular recipe in question:

Leave pie in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 200°.

"Looks like we might have to wait for at least twenty minutes there." She noted, "Think we should do some clearing up quickly? So we don't have the table all cluttered while we eat?" Might as well, they did have time.

Gradually, she'd bring up the dirty dishes over to the sink, a plug covering the hole, and with a simple turn of the tap, warm water would fill up the sink inside. A few squirts of the detergent later, and small, white bubbles would gather en masse over the water.

The recently messy nature of the ingredients used meant they could wash off easily with a few seconds in the water mixed with a few wipes of a sponge. She did know to turn off the tap well before it would overflow, bubbles and all.

If at the very least, time did feel like it flew by rather quickly as they cleaned up. But Scarab still did raise quite a good point; why wouldn't Murray just walk in and clean up for the two, rather than just leave them to their own devices and pray to Yggdrasil they didn't accidentally burn the whole place down by mistake... somehow?

At first, Skadi fell numb, awkwardly looking away from the blue-tinted Wormmon for a good moment, nervously mumbling incomprehensibly all the while as she tried to find the words she wanted to say, the wafting fruity smell of the pie at least helping to ease her nerves. After what felt like an eternity (at least to her), she took a good, deep breath before turning to him.

"Yeah... about that..." She started, looking the Wormmon directly in the eye, "I just wanted to help him out today. And I wanted to be nice to him. I didn't want to annoy him or anything, so I helped to clean up. I'm... sorry I forgot to tell you, but I loved spending time with you. I guess I must have pushed it out of my mind by mistake."

She wasn't lying either. Scarab was actually quite the gentleman and she really did enjoy her time with him on this 'date' (for lack of a better word). Yet a new fear arose within her; would he hate her for this? That one nagging part of her brain practically screeched 'yes'. But it usually wasn't like her to just... jump to conclusions at the drop of a hat, especially over something so trivial.

In the meantime, she eyed the clock. 2 minutes. The pie should have been around ready by then.

For that brief, quiet moment, one could easily hear a pin drop from within the kitchen. The only thing Skadi could find to potentially ease her nerves was to twiddle with her wool with her fingers. Did she even want to know what Scarab was going to possibly tell her? She wasn't dumb... at least, she didn't think she was dumb. But while she was a well-meaning individual, it didn't always mean it'd work out as well she expected.

She swore her heart nearly leapt out of her chest the mere second Scarab stared back at her, almost like if he did it directly into her soul, but as he spoke, the worried expression on the geep's face started to melt away. Was she honestly making a huge fuss out of nothing? Regardless, as she wiped away a tear, she gave a soft smile to Scarab, "Thank you. I was honestly worried you'd hate me after my... little mistake there, eheh. Thanks again for being so caring. I really appreciate it."

Yes, subtly wasn't exactly one of Skadi's strong points, but she had to be honest with... well, not just herself, but Scarab.

But after looking at the clock? She didn't even have to say anything before Scarab would interject and volunteer to 'work with this'. Biting her lip for a brief moment, she made her way over to the oven once more, grabbing a pair of mittens on the way, "It's OK. We do need to let the pie cool for a few moments anyways." With Scarab taking care of the dishes, this left Skadi to take out the pie herself.

With a simple tug, the oven would open up, revealing the pie in all it's glory; the warm soft crust on top concealing the gooey fruit mixture inside, wafting out a tempting smell all over the kitchen that neither would be too hard pressed to ignore as it lightly tickled their noses. It was almost good enough for Skadi to just take off the mittens right then and there and stick her fingers into the pie and take a lick.

Almost.

Temptation be damned, she'd carry the pie over to the table and laid it onto the table - just to bear witness to the two plates Scarab laid out in front of the both of them as she set the pie itself into the middle. And no, Scarab's inquiry wouldn't just fly past her head. Rather, with a little chuckle and a pat on the back, it'd be enough to reassure him, "It's great, Scarab! You did a good job!"

Hey, it was only fair she'd at least return the favour to Scarab and his gentleman-y ways.

It went without saying that Skadi couldn't wait to get her grubby little sausage mitts into that pie. By the time she brought it to the table, the tempting smell had practically permeated the entire room - and the two in it as well. It took every single bone in her soft squishy body not to just dig in right then and there.

Thankfully, she wouldn't have to wait too long.

Much to the geep's surprise, he'd offer her the chance to cut the pie open herself. For a moment, Skadi gave pause for thought. Ironic as it may seem, considering one of her forms already had her swinging a Great Sword around like it was nothing, she was still learning how to use a sharp knife like this in her time in the kitchen. Still, they came this far, would it be right to back down now?

As she reached out to take the knife out of Scarab's hands(?), she'd give a small smile and nod, "I will, thank you." With one hand on the tin and the knife in the other, she'd make a cut around the middle, before turning it around a bit more to make a similar cut, enough to make...

A surprisingly large looking slice, just falling short of the width of the plates.

She'd quickly pull Scarab's plate over to the tin, to the point both were touching one another, before Skadi would take out the slice, and the smell of the pie would only slightly grow more enticing by the minute, as the filling practically oozed out of it slowly, almost hypnotically. Even as she laid it onto the plate, pushed it back to Scarab, and gave him a quick pat on the back, the filling would still gradually seep out.

She'd do the same for herself, too, albeit with a smaller piece.

"Bon appetite!"