2017-05-19 - CAKE WARS!!
| Title: CAKE WARS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary: Midori Sugiura visits detention upon all evildoers. With the advent of an Iron Chef-style cake baking contest. There will be no survivors. | ||
| Who: Homura Akemi, Makoto Kino, Natsuki Kuga, Hikaru Shidou, Nori Ankou, Fuu Hououji, Kozue Kaoru, Shizuru Fujino, Mikoto Minagi, Mai Tokiha, Endo Naoki, Sucy Manbavaran, Takeo Akamizu, Vita, Sayaka Miki, Madoka Kaname GM: Hotaru Tomoe; special guest appearances by Touga Kiryuu, Kyouichi Saionji, Miki Kaoru, Yukariko Sanada, Fumi Himeno, Nagi Homura and of course the legendary Midori Sugiura | ||
| Where: Ohtori Academy | ||
| OOC - IC Date: 05-19-2017 - 01-19-2015 | ||
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Ohtori Academy +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* The ivory crown on the brow of Southern Cross Island, Ohtori Academy is separated from the world by more than just water. Outside, education can be a luxury. Within this white-walled compound, education is /luxurious/. Marble colonnades spring up like fountain spouts, scarlet flowers drench every free surface. The architecture is at once daringly art deco and austerely Classical, white marble lending an angelic weightlessness to pillars and fences that can seem more woven than carved. At the center of campus is the Chairman's Tower, a dizzyingly tall spire in the center of a manicured grassy field. Radiating around this field are the lecture halls, dormitories, art buildings, and other facilities by which the chosen few receive education, with small class sizes in large buildings. It's common for students to refer to a building's location as if the hour hand of a great clock extended from the central tower. At twelve o'clock, for instance, the Duel Arena looms like a jade stormcloud, a great forest forming a living pagoda of leaves that reminds even longtime students that their school keeps many secrets. The rose is the emblem of Ohtori, and campus is decorated with a profusion of them, both living and frozen in frieze. Poppies are favored as well, and thick carpets of either flower can be found wherever the loosest excuse is available. Only the most bitter of winters seems able to fully erase the faint fragrance from the air, and students who leave the island via quick, convenient bridge or ferry can often find a memory of it on their clothing.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Fuuka Academy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n0ACjZ7fBs
"Students who either flunked the cooking test or the term paper!"
Midori Sugiura, perpetually seventeen-year-old high school history teacher, is in her element, by which we mean that she's in a red cape that she could have ripped off of Superman if it wasn't trimmed with faux fur. Her green eyes sparkle with fierce enthusiasm which might, by close-minded and otherwise miserable individuals, be mistaken for pure, unmitigated evil.
"Plus those of you who skipped class for whatever reason!"
Three stations have been set up on the roof of one of the flatter buildings of Ohtori Academy; what, it's the middle January, you protest? Cooking cares nothing for harsh conditions! Besides, there are full stove ranges and ovens everywhere. How bad could it be?
Station One: Too Cool To Be Here Mikoto Minagi, Kozue Kaoru, Natsuki Kuga, Homura Akemi
Station Two: Ojou-samas -- And Escort Shizuru Fujino, Endo Naoki, Nori Ankou, Fuu Hououji
Station Three: Voted Most Likely To Make Something Edible... And They Have Sucy Mai Tokiha, Hikaru Shidou, Makoto Kino, Sucy Manbavaran
"And those who didn't even bother to attend the cooking portion of your home economics course...or were caught trying to skip this make-up class!"
Nobody is participating in this event because they want to be; the life of a magical girl basically guarantees at least one skipped class throughout the year, and Sugiura-sensei has been maddeningly precise in finding infractions to justify rounding victims -- uh, students -- up.
Up to and including hog tying some would-be truants (with surprisingly capable knot technique) and hauling them in, dumped unceremoniously in front of their stations.
"Welcome to the special home economics make-up session for Sister School students!"
And somehow she managed to get the authority to give this particular, peculiar detention to students from across all three schools, not just Ohtori. Picture, if you will, the conversations she must have had with the skinny, sneering Juuban vice-principal, and conversely the stern and forbidding Kaori Kishi who heads up Infinity's discipline.
Consider that this might actually be better than the alternative.
"Taking the place of Mitamura-sensei who had suddenly fallen ill, I, Midori Sugiura, having put together all aspects of this event, shall lead this make-up session!"
Well... maybe.
"I hope you're ready!"
The crowd roars. Yes, there is a crowd, seated in bleachers that are well-warmed by space heaters. They, on the whole, weren't forced to be here, attracted instead by splashy posters stuck up on every conceivable surface, promising glory, entertainment, and widespread cute lacey aprons.
Indeed, all of these things seem to be in evidence.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
AN ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION OF HOMURA AKEMI'S ATTENDANCE RECORD
A dry, cold wind sweeps across a barren tundra. There is no sound. There is no life. The ground cracks. Frost mounts. All is still.
OHTORI -- AGAIN
"One time," Homura mutters under her breath, as she stands at her station. "One time I will figure out how to avoid this nonsense."
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Makoto Kino, future owner of her own bake shop, is honestly ashamed to have to be here. But... the defense of the city doesn't wait for anyone, and if she had to miss *any* of her finals due to fighting monsters as Sailor Jupiter, let it be the one that she knows she can ace on the re-take.
She looks over at her teammates as she ties the string of her apron behind her back to the satisfactory tightness. She knows Hikaru and Mai, more or less, but Sucy's a new face. Makoto gives them all a bright smile all the same. "Okay, everyone! Let's do our best!" she cheers. Even if it's embarrassing to have to make up the home ec exam, this ought to be easy!
...the ominous naming of their team aside.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Natsuki did not want to be here. The most she could bake was one of those microwave mug cakes that she read about on the internet, but half the time she always ended up burning one of those.
She knew nothing about cooking..and yet...AND YET..here she was.
Natsuki sighs to her fate as she fingers blue apron with a chibi howling wolf printed on the front. Just who exactly picked this for her?
She looks to her teammates and prays that SOMEONE here knew the difference between baking soda and baking powder, because she sure as hell didn't.
"So...can anyone at this table actually bake?"
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Hikaru is also ashamed to be here... no, she's angry. She should be with her buddy, Fuu, but instead she's over here at the lowest ranking table. So instead of a cheerful look, there's a nasty scowl on her face. She wants to smile, but she can't. When Makoto tells everyone to give it their best, she glares at her and says, "Yeah, OK." It'll be easy, all right...
Assuming nothing goes wrong... Because if anything goes wrong, there's gonna be hell to pay for any monsters who show up!
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Nori Ankou is not exactly renowned for her grades or attendance even if, unlike Homura, she is actually present in classrooms often enough for teachers to know who she is. Her part time ish job as a model isn't helping.
EARLIER
Nori Ankou opens her paper for the cooking test. She reads it. She has a stoic expression on her face, but she takes a deep breath, lets it out, and then looks towards Batiste, who has been wringing his paws.
"Cousin," she tells him. "Thank you for this. I shouldn't have asked you to do it."
"I only wanted to help," Batiste says.
"I know. I don't blame you. Come here," she says, and the otter and the girl hug briefly. As Batiste sits on Nori's knee he reads the note as well.
"But I made cakes," Batiste says, baffled. "The best cakes anyone could ever want."
NOW
Over at Station Two, Nori Ankou is reviewing her cake recipe notes. At the top is a drawn picture of a crab. It has been firmly X'd out. Just in case.
"But they were cakes," Nori Ankou murmurs to herself, wistfully.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
There was really no point to protesting; while Fuu's actual cooking skills are passable, and while she paid the best attention she could to all of her home ec classes (cooking included), the cooking test confronted her with a recipe that she had never made before, had never SEEN made before, had never even HEARD of ... and yet she was expected to create a perfect meal under less than ideal conditions.
Supposedly it was just a matter of applying the principles she'd learned from studying and making other recipes. That's why she hadn't complained about the failing grade, really - in theory, she SHOULD have been able to pull it off.
Fuu finishes securing her apron (again) over her heavy sweater, and looks between Shizuru, Endo, and Nori. "Was a type of cake assigned, or are we permitted to pick a recipe?" she asks her allies. "I think pound cake may be a simple and straightforward choice, if we can choose what we're making."
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
It had all been an ordinary day for KOZUE at Ohtori. Nothing going at all. Her eyes were glued to her phone, which having it out right now in the halls was a rules infraction in and of itself. But as a model she's above the law. Which is why Midori Sugiura's arm thumped to the wall in front of her, barring her path. "Cass-san."
Looking like the cat who swallowed the canary, Midori gets into her free space instantly, swiping the phone out of her hand, and dangling it in front of her, "Maybe I've been a neglectful when it comes to molding my little lambie into the heroine of justice I know she was meant to be. After all a true heroine of justice would know she can't recruit a member of the fashion club to do her cooking final for her."
Knowing immediately that Midori Sugiura was the rare teacher she couldn't intimidate, her lip simply twists up in disdain. "I really don't have time for your nonsense today." She tries to swipe the phone back, but found it just out of her reach.
"You're coming to the make up session, Cass-san... whether you like it or not."
"Listen here Obaa-san-"
~~Now~~
Midori had left her tied up a little overlong for calling her an Obaa-san, but she hadn't struggled, instead sitting in her circumstances, making it through it with quiet dignity and seething fury.
Rubbing at her wrists when she was finally loosed, she took her place at her station, as a breath seethes out through her teeth. "I hate everything."
She steps past Mikoto, ruffling her hair gently, "Except you."
Her eyes flit over to Homura and Natsuki, "Didn't know you had a little sister Kuga." Of course she knows that Homura isn't. Everyone knew after... "And I sure can't. My vote is that we make something that Sugiura chokes on when she tries it."
<Pose Tracker> Shizuru Fujino [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Shizuru Fujino, Vice President of Ohtori Academy's illustrious Student Council, is very, very much not about being here today. She doesn't believe when she sees Midori's sparkling eyes that she sees evil. Oh, no, evil would have been amenable to some kind of deal. Midori Sugiura...
When the time came that Midori stopped her in an empty classroom, the Vice President had lifted an eyebrow, greeted her politely. She's often entertaining, after all. When she was told that she was assigned this makeup session, she stared.
"I'm sure you made some mistake," Shizuru had said. She went back to her work, waiting for the offending teacher to go away. Unfortunately...
Shizuru's good arm is still sore from where Midori pulled her up out of her seat. Thankfully, she avoided being actually tied up as she stared.
So here, dressed in her white jacketed uniform and the sling on her left arm, Shizuru is hard to read as always, but underneath her bored look there's almost a sense of irritation in her demeanor, mostly because she's really, really annoyed.
What's the point of having absurd power on the Council if you can't make a single annoying teacher leave you alone?
...Nevermind that Shizuru skips individual classes whenever she feels like it, citing Student Council business.
"How exciting," she says with a closed-eyed smile. The cold definitely notable; the wind ruffles her brown hair. And she looks around at her teammates, making her plan.
Her eyes flicker briefly over to Natsuki, but only briefly.
She looks back to her team. Nori with the notes; Fuu with the questions already.
"That's a good question," Shizuru says pleasantly to Fuu. "But you already seem so very on top of all this. I want you to know, Hououji-chan, that I'll be counting on you." Beat, before she turns to smile at Nori, and turns towards the table.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mikoto tries to go to class, because if she doesn't go to class she won't get her bento. But...
Listen, things come up. The tabby from the north courtyard is having some troubles and needs company. Eri needs a friend to help her hunt. And, of course, if she ever thinks her Lord Brother might be nearby, she has to search, on top of her usual patrols.
Oh, and sometimes there were monsters and she had to kill them. That too.
... okay, maybe Mikoto doesn't go to class as much as she ought to.
But hey, she likes these people! Kozue is a friend, and Natsuki is a friend, and Homura... well... close enough? She wishes she could be with Mai (Mai makes the best food!), but all in all, she's getting to do something with people she likes. And she gets to do it outside.
So Mikoto doesn't look particularly displeased, at her table full of delinquents. She's vaguely interested, looking from table to table and back to Midori, like a cat observing new movement. Luckily, Kozue adds a disclaimer to how much she hates, ruffling Mikoto's hair in the process, and the girl grins. She's glad that Kozue doesn't hate her!
She looks back and forth, and asks the question on everyone's minds: "When's food?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mistakes have been made. Made, time and time again, because there have been choices and this was the path chosen.
Brushing imagined dust off her own apron - yellow with a jade-green trim - Mai Tokiha takes a deep breath. She glances over to the other tables, notably that of Team Delinquent, and closes her eyes for a moment.
There may have been a brief prayer, for the health of those particular three HiME, there.
"...still can't believe you went ahead with this, Sugiura-sensei. Are you still holding a grudge over the lawn?" Mai opens her eyes, her little commentary not quite loud enough to carry too far - but probably audible to her teammates, at least. She looks back and forth, taking in the assembled crowd, looking for familiar family in the mob.
Would it be worse if her brother wasn't here, or if he was?
Makoto gives a cheer, snapping Mai out of her reverie, and the eleventh-grader turns to her tall junior. "Sounds like a plan to me! A home ec exam is a home ec exam, and Sugiura probably didn't come up with something as ridiculous as that cooking challenge..."
She turns to her other teammates, Hikaru and Sucy - neither one she knows particularly well. She's about to introduce herself when Hikaru speaks up, and a friendly face turns into a furrowed brow and the starts of a Tokiha Glare. "Hey, watch it. Yeah, it's detention. Yeah, the team names are something else. And yeah, none of us exactly want to be here - but this is a makeup exam, so we're going to have to work together."
Mai sighs, and turns to her fourth team member, whose name seems to be...in the name of their team for some reason. "So...Sucy-chan, is it? Are you a fan of cooking or something?"
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"No," Homura answers Natsuki, very matter of factly. "None of us can bake."
Then she gives Kozue Kaoru the most withering, tired, and simply done look she can imagine. It's all she says, before she turns around, and picks up a measuring cup. Then, she goes for the flour. Her nose wrinkles, again.
"What sort of cake should we bake?"
Maybe, she thinks, that will be different.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo is regretting his choice of classes he wrote off as 'not strictly necessary'. He's had a very busy schedule, and he might have sacrificed a day of home economics. Or two, or three, or a few more. His negligence has landed him his place at the table with Shizuru, Nori, and Fuu, and-much to his confusion-official label of assistant.
"This is a little much, isn't it?" The boy regards the bleachers and the crowd gathered 'round, scratching at the back of his head before his eyes turn toward the supplies laid out around the table.
"Ah-well--I can probably make a cake. I cook at work." He assures his team. "I'm really good at it."
He is, in fact, the best cook at the 7-11. He never turns the microwave on too high when he puts the pork buns in.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran is still reeling. Where is she? How did this happen? The last thing she remembers she was in the cafe for a book and a nap, she ordered a cake from someone new, closed her eyes and... woke up in a sack as it thumped down to its destination. The top was opened, and she was here. On a stage. With people watching. And teams, and stations and signs with her name on them? That voice... "The Home Economics make-up session?" Sucy remembers the flyers for that arriving in her dorm. She turned them all into paper dolls in various forms of distress, she figured she might as well keep them as pre-made Shikigami for Eastern Magic Class's Onmyouji unit.
It was true she was in Home Etc. but it was MEANT to be a skip class right, that's why it's there! Sucy grew up needing to do a lot of her own cooking and self-care so she took the course as something to blow off.
This whole... situation... was distressing, but it might not be a big deal, she thinks to herself: Everyone knows how to bake a cake! Even Sucy! Probably... she guesses... it's been a while... But how different can it be from brewing a potion except you add heat and it turns solid? Yes, that's the way. Now where's the baking cauldron..."
She takes a moment to get oriented, she'd stumbled her way from her sack to her station,but had spaced out since. She looks over to her teammates, an energetic one she'd never met, and a great big one... she wonders momentarily: Did one of the classical statues escape from the 13th floor and start a new life as a student?
She recognizes at least one, Mai... was it? The girl with the amazing homemade lunch she met with Kasagami.
Wait... didn't that sign say that this was the team most likely to succeeed? They all seemed very confident... with the cheering! Yesss... Sucy had lucked out! All she has to do is stay out of the way and help a little bit!
That's kinda boring though... maybe too boring...
Her thoughts are interrupted by Mai's question and she leaves her introspective bubble: "Yes. But still... a surprise... to be here so suddenly." She glances askance at the kidnap-sack she had recently exited. "I cooked for myself at home growing up, so I don't attend very often." She freezes when she realizes Mai used her real name and Sucy remembers she introduced herself with her Ohtori. flower-picking cover name of Atsuko Kagari.
She can't blush or she might have, and the gaunt middle schooler busys herself finding and putting on her apron and learning where things are.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed. <SoundTracker> The Fighting 17th https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrNWLDq0EVM
"Today's theme is..."
What, does Midori think she's on Iron Chef?
"...CAKE WARS!!"
Yes.
Yes she does.
With a fluorish worthy of any ringmaster, she whips the tablecloth off the mounded-high table full of various flours, sugars, oils, and other ingredients, such as dairy and fruit.
"You can make any cake that you want, as long as you use these ingredients!"
That, at least, shouldn't be a problem. It's hard to think of a cake that COULDN'T be made with the variety here.
"In the end, your cakes will be evaluated by our special panel of judges!"
Touga Kiryuu smirks out a heartstopping smoulder, and has a special wink just for Shizuru. He's seated with Kyouichi Saionji, Takeo Akamizu, and Miki Kaoru -- the boys of the Ohtori Student Council, in other words.
There's a lot of cheering and swooning from the stands (though the cooking stations may be another story). And a surprising preponderance of death glares, too. Suddenly dozens of girls are wishing they had gotten detention. An opportunity to make cake for senpai~~!
"AND!" Midori interrupts enthusiastically, "We have special guests for your supervisors today! Please be sure to give them your full attention!"
Sister Yukariko Sanada, who staffs the Ohtori Chapel, minces nervously over to Team Too Cool To Be Here and coughs into her habit. "Ah, hello, girls!!"
Principal Kazahana is not in evidence but her maid is. She does have a name, right? Whoever she is, she looks very capable and eager as she strides over to the team perhaps least likely to need her help at station three. "I'm excited, normally I don't get much interaction with the students!"
Incongruously, the third special guest isn't a teacher or even a staff member. Or even an adult. The shortest person present is Vita, who has been stuffed into the cutest, bunny-adorned apron of all.
"And this volunteer!" announces Midori. "Now, you all have ninety minutes... START!"
OOC: Vita's player will be here soon, pose around her for now... <Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"I don't really know," Nori answers Fuu, diffidently. She toys with a lock of her hair, looking over to give KOZUE a distant smile, and then giving Shizuru two seconds of a completely blank expression, followed by a polite smile.
The question of the crowd comes up. "I think they're going to cheer for us?" Nori guesses, before smiling at Endo. And then
KYOUKU WA TEMU GA: "Oh! I think we shouldn't just do a pound cake," Nori says, perhaps to respond to Fuu's strategy. "We'll definitely lose and be expelled unless we execute it with perfect brilliance."
She looks at Endo hopefully then.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Woah, yikes. Makoto doesn't know what Hikaru's problem is, and she's quite taken aback when she scowls at her for what, as far as Makoto knows, is no reason. But after blinking several times in surprise, she rubs the back of her head. "U-uhh... W-well, I guess--" Actually, you know what? She's not going to let one teammate's bad mood ruin this. Opting to let Mai do the scolding, she instead gives a firm nod. "That's right. Having a bad attitude about it at this point is only going to make it worse!"
But, wait, what? Is it just Makoto or was Mai muttering something about the teacher presiding over this make-up exam? "Uhhhh, lawn?" she echoes. Exactly... what did you do to have to take this make-up exam, senpai?"
A vague sense of dread looms on the horizon of Makoto's heart. It hasn't quite crept up yet, but it's watching. Waiting. Biding its time.
At least Sucy seems nice enough! A little quiet, but there's nothing wrong with that. "It'll be fine," she reassures her, before looking out at Midori and her announcement. The guests... include a small redheaded girl.
Makoto squints at Vita.
Something about her seems horribly familiar.
Oh well! No time for that! It's time to get baking! She smiles at Principal Kazahana's maid and nods. "We'll do our best!" To the others, she suggests, "How about we do a classic chocolate cake? Nothing too difficult, so no one feels overwhelmed!" Plus, those hot guys on the judging panel look like they'd like chocolate cake...! For a moment, Makoto's eyes sparkle. They would sparkle less if she knew who they were.
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Takeo had been in trouble, as he usually was, and was informed of the Home Economics make up session. He was also informed he would not be allowed to cook becuase his cooking skills have been ... Less than stellar. Or edible.
THE LAST TIME TAKEO TRIED TO COOK (Which just so happened to be a Cake)
Takeo hands the cake over to Mai Tokiha, beaming proudly. "I made this for you! I figured you deserved it, you doing all those nice things for me!" He lifts the cover to the cake box, a small cloud drifts upwards with a horror movie style scream of terror and a skull and crossbones. "I'm sure it'll be creat! It's chocolatte!" A pause. "I think..."
The cake was not fine, and somewhere that cake still sits. Refusing to decompose for reasons unknown to anyone other than it's possibly horrible composition ...
TODAY
Takeo blinks and then grins when he sees Mai. Well. She's an awesome cook, so the chances of her cake coming out anywhere NEAR that bad are so far remote it's hilarious. He leans back and looks to the other Student Council Boys. "Well. I guess we should just sit back, and eventually eat cake!" He grins and folds his hands behind hsi head as he leans back. "Ooo I wonder if one of them will have bacon?!"
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Natsuki rolled her eyes at Kozue. "Very funny," she muttered and she felt her hopes plummeted by Homura's answer..and just by her tone, the situation seemed even more so. "Great...," she grumbled as she slumped.
She looked to Sister Sanada and never felt more great pity for someone that had to witness the disaster that was about to take place
Natsuki picks up the book of recipes and flipped through it. "Um...well...how about something real easy?" she asked and held up a recipe. "Um..a chocolate cake? We can't mess that up right?"
Oh they probably could, but it didn't hurt to be somewhat hopeful....right?
Natsuki suddenly wondered if poison control was part of the set up.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
After being threatened with detention, and nearly getting into a yelling match with a nearby staff member, Hikaru gets herself a drink of water and calms herself down. She then returns and says, "I'm sorry about that. Shall we get to work?" She smiles gently. "I'm sure we can get things going easily! Namely since we have her," She gestures to Mai, "on our team!" She stretches her arms over her head.
Internally, she's really hoping nothing bad happens. She doesn't want things to be going sour again.
<Pose Tracker> Shizuru Fujino [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Shizuru makes no response to the idea of this being a little much, though she does hear Endo from her position near the edge of the group. Instead, she listens to him talking about what he can do, and, without looking over, replies "My, how lucky!" She doesn't ask Endo's name. Maybe she knows it already.
As Midori keeps up talking, she barely looks up. No, she only looks up when Midori actually mentions the special panel of judges. Touga is looking at her. Touga Kiryuu. He's winking. Shizuru tilts her head as she slowly turns to look at him, in particular.
She smiles broadly, an utterly pleasant expression except for in her eyes, which bore his direction until she closes them.
Her hand curls into a fist behind the table.
The supervisor is something that can be waited for. Besides, she's busy not looking at the death glares, casually unaffected by them except to be annoyed.
Nori's blank expression gets a tilt of her head, and a small, brief laugh. "So this is a model's way..."
"I suppose they might cheer."
Nori mentions the pound cake being a problem. "Oh my, that would be terrible. But I really do believe in this entire team. Don't give up." She continues fiddling, the sounds masked by the noises of the... arena.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Seeing her brother watching fills her with DETERMINATION!
...to ruin this.
She blows a single kiss towards the judges. At Touga Kiryuu in particular... just to annoy Miki.
Homura Akemi gives her that withering look. Kozue stares back. This is the girl that shot a ten year old in cold blood, and yet Kozue's expression looks playful. Homura's nose wrinkles- Kozue extends a hand, and presses a single finger against her nose in a light touch. "You're exceptionally cute when you get this intense-"
The hand moves away leans in, whispering by her ear- allowing her breath to tickle her ear lobe if she doesn't immediately pull away, "-Akemi-chan."
But then straightening up, Kozue puts a hand on her hip, flashing a grin towards Mikoto. "Food comes whenever we make it. You've been watching your roommate Mai doing it right? Well-"
She sounds just as playful, as she gives her potentially apocalyptic advice, "-I think today you should do what Mai does."
But the rules are spelled out. "Seriously? She wants us to bake a cake?" Her eyebrow twitches, having the distinct feeling they're being messed with but...
Sister Yukariko shows up- and- "Oh Yukariko-oneechan. I'm overjoyed that you could join us- in order to help guide us poor sinners down the right path. Kuga in particular was just telling me how she'd like to make a private confession later-"
Out of the corner of her eye, she looks at Natsuki and winks, "-but only to you."
She doesn't weigh in on the type of cake. She just can't bring herself to care about it at all.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
'What sort of cake should we bake?', asks Homura, and Mikoto looks up at her with shining eyes. "Cake?" She's said the magic words, and Mikoto brushes down her gold-coloured apron in preparation for eating delicious cake.
And then, Midori announces the cake war! Homura must have talked to her before the exam started. Obviously. As for Mikoto, her eyes are drawn to the ingredients table. Some of those things look pretty tasty... cooking chocolate is like regular chocolate, right?
(There are boys at the judging panel, but Mikoto is distracted by food.)
Natsuki suggests a chocolate cake, and Mikoto perks up. "Chocolate cake!" She echoes, enthusiastically. But there's a catch...! As Kozue explains, they have to make the food.
Mikoto frowns pensively, considering the ingredients. "What Mai does..."
Well, usually Mai starts by cooking the noodles! It's so obvious, Mikoto brightens up and goes to tug on Sister Yukariko's skirt, because she's the supervisor and Mikoto has a question. Tug, tug. Once she's got her attention, she looks up at her with those big gold saucer-eyes and asks: "Where's soba?"
Yes, Mikoto will do exactly what Mai does.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura moves away from Kozue, but it's with a smooth and languid step, rather than jerking away. "If you insist," she says. She frowns, and then she looks back at Mikoto. Her eyebrows wrinkle for a moment, before she nods.
Even if it is the same.
"Chocolate," she either acknowledges or agrees. "Very well. We should split the tasks up. Someone make the batter, someone else make the filling, and someone prepare the pans. The fourth person can fetch garnishes and ingredients as needed."
A beat.
"A cake shouldn't have soba."
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Wait, are we going to be expelled if we lose?" Endo seems vaguely alarmed at Nori's suggestion. His brows furrow, eyes taking a beady look toward the ingredients spread out on the table, and then back to his teammates.
"Aaah, well, I'm sure we can do it if we all work together, right?" He nods at Shizuru's affirmation of belief, absent-minded as it may be. "I mean, you're all probably great at cooking, right?" Endo beams. He's nothing if not positive.
"But-should we really make a pound cake? That seems a little boring, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Akko, Sucy, whoever she really is, Mai is at least trying to be friendly to this girl. The older sometimes-waitress glances towards those sacks and ropes, wincing in sympathy at the sight. "Well, I'm sure you can do your best - it's a team effort, right? Maybe we'll luck out and the theme will be bento..."
Her musings are interrupted by Midori's dramatic reveals - first, the theme. If anything, Mai's face pales just a touch. "I'd hoped for something savoury..." That quiet little complaint itself fades upon seeing the judges - one of whom she knows well, and the rest of whom all the school must know. A smile returns to her face, and she gives a brief wave before turning to her team.
"All right, this shouldn't be too bad. We just have to-" Mai stops, staring at Makoto for a moment. "What...did I do? Uh..." Her gaze flickers to the side, to the stands, and she nods to herself. "I might have ducked out early a few times to check on my brother. Yeah. That's it. Probably not that whole thing with...the grounds."
She fades into silence, dead silent as Makoto suggests a recipe, as Takeo's comments drift on the wind, as Hikaru cheers up. Eventually, Mai shakes her head rapidly to clear whatever thoughts had moved in.
"Anyway, that's beside the point - we're all here, so we should make the best of it. Chocolate cake is traditional, but I think I've got a better plan. See, a month or two back, one of the judges tried making a cake that was kind of...demonic." She shudders, briefly, the winter months' chill having nothing on that indescribable flavour. "I think we ought to aim a little higher - Kino-san's a better baker than me, and with her on board we can show what we've got. I vote angel food cake - something light and fluffy."
This ambition can't possibly go wrong.
She turns to the maid - Fumi, though the name seems to be escaping Mai's memory for the moment. "Are there any recipes we could look into? I'm pretty sure we'll need a lot of egg whites..."
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Sister Sanada blushes and averts her gaze from Kozue's sinful self, then swallows, steeling herself for a more appropriate question.
Her eyebrows lift at 'soba'.
"Um, I believe Akemi-san has the right of it there. It is written that soba does not belong in cakes, and so we must obey..."
---
The maid (who has never been introduced, what is her name?!) smiles at Mai and pulls a handwritten book out of her apron.
"Angel food cake," she announces, not in a robotic voice at all, but something very gentle and sweet. "Cake flour, white sugar, cream of tartar..."
Then she looks over at Makoto. "Perhaps you should combine ideas," she suggests, smoothly. "A devil's angel food cake is one of the Principal's favorites. Juxtaposition... combination... irony."
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran returns a small smile to Makoto and her words of encouragement as she gets her bearings on her station. She seems nice. Like Lotte or Akko without the disaster?
She may not look it, but Sucy does appreciate being around positive people as long as they know when to rein it in, and so far Makoto is passing the test. Hikaru seems potentially more of a risk, but also seems to not be getting carried away with her enthusiasm, so Sucy is encouraged by both of them! (Though her expression doesn't change of course) This will be a piece of... this will be easy.
It will be a "Team Effort" as Mai just said. When Mai mentions that Makoto is a good baker, she looks to her again in acknowledgement, and when Mai suggests Angel Food cake, she nods her approval and speaks: "Angel Food sounds fine. They're not too difficult, I think I've made one before... I might remember the recipe if there's not one, but surely there is?" Sucy turns to and watches Mai interact with the maid... Fumi? Sucy tries her best to recall...
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"We could probably garnish it with berries or something," Fuu considers - really, a pound cake is the easiest recipe she's heard of, you just get a pound of each of the core ingredients, mix well, bake ...
Expulsion over a failed make-up exam seems rather excessive, but this is Ohtori, and with Sugiura-sensei in charge of the proceedings, Fuu decides it's best not to take anything for granted. For better *or* for worse. "Let's focus on making a cake that can be enjoyed for now, shall we?" the bespectacled Infinity student says to her teammates, mustering an optimistic smile. "Fujino-san, could you look up a good recipe that we can refer to, and turn the oven on to preheat? Nori-san, help me pick out our ingredients, including some good garnishes - I'm sure we'll want to frost the cake as well, so if you know a good recipe for frosting for a pound cake, get what we'll need for that? And ... ah, Naoki-san, wasn't it?" she says to Endo. "How's your stirring arm? I didn't see an electric mixer ..."
Trying to ignore her gathering gut feeling of impending doom, Fuu goes over (presumably with Nori) to collect the ingredients they'll need. There are some things Fuu's sure they'll need, even without referring to a recipe ..
COIN FLIP: Nori Ankou flips a coin. It lands on heads!
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Natsuki watches as Kozue gives the suggestion of what Mai does to Mikoto to help the kid understand, but when she brings up the instant reaction of 'soda noddles' she winces.
"Uh..no, not exactly," her attention is swiftly diverted by Kozue.
Giving a confession to the nun later? At first Natsuki jaw's drop, and it's quickly replaced by a glare and an eye twitch. Oh yeah, she'll need to confess about the murder she was likely to commit after this.
She glares at the sly smile of the girl, but then an idea pops into her head and she grins back.
"Oh, yes, that's right I might have mentioned that," she says and looks to the nun. "It was during our chat of Kozue claiming she 'found the meaning of God' and was currently thinking of entering the sisterhood, and she wanted to ask you the best way to cleanse of all her sins."
She gives an icy smirk to the girl. Natsuki can play hardball when she wanted too.
She then looked to Homura and began to looked over the recipe. "Okay..yeah, so we need to melt chocolate..I guess I could do that while you guys stir the battle."
Natsuki at least knew how to melt chocolate from the times she made her own hot chocolate (she tosses a slight look to Mai as she recalls this) and process to take the baking chocolate, and drop them in the pot.
She starts to stir as she turns up the heat. "Um..I think I'm suppose to melt butter with this too? Can someone pass me that?"
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Makoto peers at Mai and her excuse-making, frowning. She doesn't approve of lying... but then again, maybe it was her fault for prying in the first place. She decides to drop it, since that's well besides the point, and besides, if she were asked the same question, she couldn't really answer it honestly, either. Fair's fair.
"A... demonic cake?" she echoes, a bead of sweat forming on the side of her face. "Exactly what kind of cake was that...?" Still, she smiles at the praise of her baking skills. An angel food cake, huh? That's a little tougher, but Mai's got a point! "Just leave it to me!" she says, pumping a fist and clapping a hand on her bicep. She blinks at the maid's suggestion, though. Devil's angel's food cake? It's an intringuing idea. Would that be better layered or marbled...? But Makoto shakes her head. "I like the sound of that, but we're all here to make up an exam. I can show off on my own time," she says. So, wait, she would totally be down for making a devil's angel's food cake if it were just her?! Plus, Sucy speaks up to say that she's made angel's food cake before, which in Makoto's mind seals it. She nods to her and says, "Then let's keep it simple and stick to an angel's food cake. We only have so much time to work, anyway!"
She nods to Mai. "Right, we'll need egg whites, along with the sugar, cake flour, and cream of tartar. We'll also need to mix up whipped cream and slice strawberries. Sucy-san," Makoto's friendly but not *quite* friendly enough to -chan someone she just met, she's not Usagi here, "since you've made it before, you can assist me with the cake itself to start. Senpai, you start on the whipped cream, and Shidou-san, you can slice up the strawberries. Does that work for everyone?" Once she hears an answer in the positive, she starts looking around. "Let's see, where are the eggs? The egg whites need to be room temperature, so we'll need to crack them first..."
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Nori goes dutifully with Fuu to pick up ingredients, seeming a little subdued. She's out of her depth here. "Ah, yes," she says when the topic of frosting comes up.
Nori gets things kind of arbitrarily. For instance, she gets half the butter she needs, and 50% more eggs than recommended. She also gets a bag of slivered almonds and a small bottle of de-alcoholized rum. Does she have a plan here?
IN THE SEA OF TEARS
"What's this cake called?" la Sirene asks the owner.
"Almond Rum Crunch."
HERE NOW
This should work, Nori thinks. Almonds, rum... And it'll get crisp when we cook it. I'm very talented at home economics, she concludes with a nod to nobody in particular.
<Pose Tracker> Shizuru Fujino [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
"Sure, why not?" Shizuru answers Endo's worry, still vaguely pleasant, still not bothering to keep looking at the others very much. He goes on with his own belief, and smiles again.
They're all good at cooking? Still smiling, "Given why we're all here, that's certainly an assumption." From her tone it's a good assumption... But her words are a little sharp. She pauses. Pound cake.
Shizuru frankly doesn't care, and doesn't bother saying anything about it.
Again she glances over at another team, continuing to do so as Fuu speaks. She misses the optimistic smile technically, but she can hear it in her voice as she actually makes requests--gives directions--to the rest of the team. Including herself. Herself first, in fact.
"Ah," she says, and turns to the others with, of all things, a teacup in her good hand. She raises it to her lips and takes a sip.
"Ah..."
After a beat, "I wouldn't want to take the opportunity to really pour your heart into this cake from any of you; it's cruel to deny me the chance to watch younger students learn."
She turns back to her tea, and does precisely jack to help.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"No soba?" Mikoto frowns, face falling. The Sister just confirms that denial, as if reading from a holy text. (She might be reading from a holy text.)
But that's fine. So the first step in Mai's cooking doesn't apply. Which means that she has to start frying things up, probably? That's what she usually does. Sometimes she boils rice instead, but that's also step one, and they shot down step one. But there's no frying pan, either, so she can't do step two. Boy, cooking is difficult. There must be something here which fits...
(Natsuki and Kozue's war goes entirely uncommented by Mikoto, who is focusing far too hard on the question of their dinner.)
When Natsuki asks for butter, Mikoto brightens up, offering her the entire stick, because that's something she can do to help! After all, she doesn't know how much butter Natsuki really needs. She might need all of it.
Sayaka Miki walks over from Yamanote High City.
<Pose Tracker> Vita [None] has posed.
The third special guest teacher is, indeed, the best and cutest: VITA NOLASTNAMEPROVIDED.
If there is context here it is not provided to anyone but Vita, who is wearing the most bunniest of all aprons, and her already pigtailed hair is tied further back with the addition of an honest to betsy hachimaki she found somewhere.
Its traditional rising sun emblem is also a bunny. If that's rude she doesn't care.
She took her time getting there but when she does she BULLS IN AND MAKES HER PRESENCE KNOWN somehow. she's so short. she literally is under the tables. "ALRIGHT!!" she yelps, in an actually kind of credible noise somewhere on the drill sergeant scale for someone who is not actually even four feet tall. "You're all in a lot of trouble! Apparently??" She looks at Shizuru with something like genuine confusion for a second and then squares her stance with her hands on her hips. "So do your best! You presumably have something you're good at!"
She pauses, and then processes the last thirty seconds. "...did you guys not, like, pick a cake yet?" Looks off to where they're getting ingredients. "Almonds!? Ridiculous! Strawberries! Strawberries!!"
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"I most certainly do." Kozue winks at Homura, without missing a beat by her own smooth exodus from the situation.
Whereas Mikoto suggests soba. Homura shoots it down. Kozue thinks that's a wonderful idea- "Now let's not be hasty Akemi-chan." -but Sister Yukariko says that and Kozue innocently asks, "Oh? And where is it written? I'd like to look up that passage myself Yukariko-oneechan. Because honestly- I think the idea of Soba in cake is brilliant."
She puts an arm around Mikoto, as if to hold her up. "Shouldn't we embrace bold ideas like this at Ohtori Academy? One which brings the old tradition of crafting buckwheat flower into a fresh new taste that everyone can enjoy."
But Natsuki says that right in front of her, turning her head to give her a dark look, as if to say 'Well played.'
She can give her that much, as she lets go of Mikoto. "As it turns out, she's correct." Wait what? "I've always held a secret desire to cast away these sinful trappings, and bare my soul before the lord- so that I might wash myself clean in his sight." She whirls around on Natsuki, "As my senpai, you'll help me with that right-" She walks by, as if she's going to actually take her station, but once nearby- "-to wash myself clean? Perhaps after, I could return the favor..."
And once positioned at her station beside her, she shifts her hair aside with a deft hand just enough- to blow on the small hairs on the nape of her neck with a small puff of air.
Her eyes then trail around to look at Nori, and Shizuru at their station, as if entirely innocent of anything, but her eyes are definitely showing her guilt.
Walking over to Mikoto, she says softly, "It doesn't look like they appreciate your idea of soba in cake." She shakes her head in sympathy, "So maybe you could help me with cracking some eggs?"
The more eggshells sticking out of the cake, the better.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura starts to pour flour into measuring cups. She moves methodically, with a glance over her shoulder. "The cake won't hold together with soba in it," she states, flatly, before she looks back ahead of her. Her eyebrow shakes, slightly, at being called Akemi-chan. But, that has less to do with Kozue and a lot more to do with someone else entirely.
Someone who isn't here.
Of course, that makes her slip. She dumps out about three cups of flour over her measuring cup, and leaves her hand dusted. So is the counter.
She lets out a long suffering sigh.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Juxtaposition, eh? Mai leans back on her heels for a moment, considering the idea. "Adding a bit of chocolate, huh? Devil's Angel food cake...or would that be a 'Fallen Angel Food Cake'? I'm half tempted to go ask the Sister over there..."
Tempted - but this is her team. She does glance over to how things are going, visibly cringing at the sight of Mikoto making soba noodles while Kozue and Natsuki argue. "I really hope that turns out well..."
And then, of course, there's the team of the oujous (plus escort), where Fujino is supervising the situation. "...all right, then." And back to her team turns Mai.
Her eyes light up with delight as Sucy backs up the idea. "You've got experience? Great! This should turn out fine, then..."
She turns next to the perhaps-a-bit-suspicious Makoto, gathering a couple of bowls as she goes. The brief question gives her visible pause, hands frozen on the edge of the counter, before finally words are found to describe it. "Picture...a cake made by someone whose favourite ingredients are chips, pop, and bacon. Then imagine them getting every step wrong. It was...not a good cake."
She looks more than a little haunted.
It's only when Makoto takes command that Mai is able to release that death-grip. "Right - whipped cream, strawberries, cake. We'd better preheat the oven, too. And maybe consider decoration...should I try for a few colours of cream, maybe?" Without waiting for a response, she rummages among the ingredients for...well, food colouring is one option, or maybe some kind of fruit to set the colour a little off from white...
"...golden. That ought to do the trick. Maybe this will be enough..." Mai is returning with cream, sugar, and lemons of all things - and setting up more than a few bowls. What is this girl planning now...
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Immortals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9PxOanFjxQ
Midori hasn't been doing too much commentating; now that this glorious event is in full swing, she's watching the show as much as anyone else. However, she notices a particular problem -- the girls at Station One really aren't getting along very well, are they?
She puffs out her cheeks. She folds her arms. She taps her foot.
And she smiles, as The Idea comes over her.
Strolling over, mic in hand, she declares, "It looks like Station One needs someone to show them the value of teamwork! But I'm a generous test proctor, so I'm going to let you girls... call a friend!"
Pulling a cell phone out of her pocket, she dials a number rapidly at random, and then starts walking through the bleachers, fake-talking at someone on the other end.
"Mmm-hmm! Yeah. Yeah, they really need your help. Yeah, someone good at cooking. And at friendship, from hot-blooded... um..."
Her eyes drift over the students she's nearby.
"...sports! Softball! Yeah! Here she is Station One, your very own pinch-hitter... iiiiiiit's Sayaka Miki-chan!"
The crowd applauds enthusiastically if with some confusion. The social pressure will not be denied.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Hikaru might not be the best at cooking but she's willing to do what she can. Feeling better, she tries to coordinate amongst her team in hopes of doing better than she thought she would. But her attention is drawn away when Vita makes herself known. All Hikaru can do is stand and stare in disbelief.
"Um, OK?" She says, before looking to her teammates. "Let's get back to work shall we?" She attempts to preheat the oven as suggested by Mai, before helping sort the ingredients.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
"Well, slivered almonds might be a good additional topping," Fuu suggests - she doesn't want to reject any of her teammates' ideas, REALLY she doesn't. "I'm not sure about the rum ... or were you thinking of putting rum in the frosting? ... Which might actually work."
The teacup in Shizuru's hand is given a mild, ostensibly non-judgmental look. They're in teams of four for a *reason*, and it's not so that somebody has room to slack off. "The cake will be all the better if all four of our hearts are represented in it, Fujino-san," Fuu observes. "If only three of us are pouring our hearts into it, then that'll only be three hearts' worth of the cooks' love, and we'll lose because the other two teams have four cooks' worth of love in it."
She may not be the best cook, but Fuu *is* an ace at math.
Assuming that the stated premise even applies.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Sure, I can stir, Fuu-san." Endo seems happy to help, even if it's not the most glamorous task. "I guess I canstart the oven, too." And it seems he'll have to, since Shizuru has declined. And decided to take tea instead.
"But, really...pound cake is so boring..." Endo's complaints trail off as Nori and Fuu move to fetch their team's ingredients.
He might have further to say about this, if Vita's outburst of authority didn't cause him to visibly jump. He has to pause to digest these new orders, before replying: "Ok." He holds up his stirring spoon. He's very ready to do his best at stirring.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran nods and accompanies Makoto as requested. She recalls seeing some in the industrial-style glass-doored refirgerator, so she goes over and retrieves 12 of them, and puts them between herself and Makoto. She considers that maybe she would be best to handle the flour... if she got it on her hands, who would notice... but she leaves that to Makoto, Sucy does have more experience handling wet ingredients and informs Makoto that she'll handle the eggs and adding the wet ingredients when they're ready. For now she gets to cracking the eggs. She sets out two bowls side by side and makes a wave of her hand when she cracks the eggs, the yolks stay in the air for an extra moment as the white falls away from it into the right bowl, then the yolk falls to the left, into the left bowl, resulting in a very quick procedure by egg splitting standards. She whispers a word and points at it, and the bowl heats slightly. She thinks this should be subtle enough as long as no one's watching her directly, why wouldn't she take a shortcut if she can, this is a contest, right?
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
And then Kozue is off bantering with Natsuki in that weird way Kozue does, and Homura is getting flour everywhere, which is obviously what you do with flour because flour is the most entertaining thing to get everywhere. It's like dusty snow!
Mikoto doesn't have to consider joining in on the flour fun for long, though, because Kozue suggests she help out with the eggs. "Okay!" Mikoto chirps, moving over to their generous pile and tapping the eggshell on the counter. One might expect it to crumple against the corner, or for the shell to fracture into a thousand tiny pieces, but this is something she's watched Mai do a hundred times! The advice finally makes sense! Mikoto thinks like Mai, and pushes her thumb in and cracks the shell. It separates into two equal halves, and the egg slides out into the dish.
Her eyes sparkle, and a grin crosses her face, and the other girls don't hear any more outlandish cake ideas from Mikoto, because she's found something she's good at.
She's so good at it that she doesn't even listen to Midori's showboating. She's too busy cracking eggs and pouring them into bowls. It just keeps working! She's the best at this!
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
There's one person who appreciates her thought process! Kozue drapes an arm over Mikoto, briefly, propping her up as she crows the genius of soba cake. Mikoto smiles, even though she's confused. Homura shoots down the idea again, and Mikoto crinkles up one side of her mouth as she thinks about it. "Soba... no soba..."
And then Kozue is off bantering with Natsuki in that weird way Kozue does, and Homura is getting flour everywhere, which is obviously what you do with flour because flour is the most entertaining thing to get everywhere. It's like dusty snow!
Mikoto doesn't have to consider joining in on the flour fun for long, though, because Kozue suggests she help out with the eggs. "Okay!" Mikoto chirps, moving over to their generous pile and tapping the eggshell on the counter. One might expect it to crumple against the corner, or for the shell to fracture into a thousand tiny pieces, but this is something she's watched Mai do a hundred times! The advice finally makes sense! Mikoto thinks like Mai, and pushes her thumb in and cracks the shell. It separates into two equal halves, and the egg slides out into the dish.
Her eyes sparkle, and a grin crosses her face, and the other girls don't hear any more outlandish cake ideas from Mikoto, because she's found something she's good at.
She's so good at it that she doesn't even listen to Midori's showboating. She's too busy cracking eggs and pouring them into bowls. It just keeps working! She's the best at this!
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Vita speaks with authority and Nori's head swivels to look at her. She has to look down on Vita - but it's not her fault. She doesn't mean anything by it.
"I was specifically told not to repeat my own cake recipe," she tells Vita, with the wariness of someone addressing a possible ax murderer. "Hououji-san, you were the one making this plan, right?"
That's right: divert fire.
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Takeo watches the goings on from his seat. Surely these people can bake a simple cake, after all, even Takeo was capable of creating a cake! (Edibility may vary...) He nudges Tuga, "I think Kozou-san was winking at you." He eyebrow waggles to the man and then puts his feet up on the table, crossing them at the ankles.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Makoto listens to Mai's description of the demon-cake with growing, open horror. By the end, she has a hand over her mouth, and reaches out the other one to Mai's shoulder in a vain attempt to comfort in the wake of such... such... horror. "Oh my god... Senpai, I'm so sorry--I had no idea..." She shudders at the very mental image. No wonder Mai wants an angel's food cake!
She nods at Mai's suggestion to preheat the oven-- "Yeah, definitely," she says-- and lets Hikaru take care of that while Mai starts on the whipped cream. Sucy claims the egg-cracking, and Makoto's a little surprised by that--separating eggs can be tricky!--but she smiles and nods her on. Then she fetches the appropriate bowls and pans and starts on sifting the cake flour. Easy does it!
A minute later, when she glances at Sucy to make sure she's all right, her jaw drops at what she sees. "Wow!" she utters, impressed. "That's some amazing egg-separating, Sucy-san!" Possibly even better than Mikoto's?! A RIVAL APPEARS. ...or not.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Natsuki keeps her hand out for an offering of butter, but has instant regrets as Mikoto gleefully sticks the whole stick of butter in her hand.
"Um..thanks, Kid," she mutters as she looks it over.
Surely it didn't need the whole stick. She recall the recipe saying 1/3 cup-
Alas, Natsuki is unable to finish her thought Kozue declares her full 'plans' on becoming a nun. Natsuki sweats as Kozue smiles that smile and gets FAR too close to her to be comfortable.
This was not the response she was expecting, and frankly could use a bit of help. She glances around in desperation and for some reason her eyes happened to land on Shizuru. Was it guilt, shock or perhaps just plain embarrassment, but at that moment the whole stick of butter dropped from her hand and right into the pot of chocolate.
Natsuki swallowed and glared as she poked her wooden spoon at her. "Listen, stop playing around," she growled, "I'm not one of your little 'toys' that you can-"
A burning smell wafts through the air, and it's then Natsuki glanced in horror at the smell of burning chocolate. In a panic, she grabs the pot and tries to stir to save it. But it's too late.
Natsuki eyes twitches. "Well, good going Kozue, because of you the chocolate burn!" She was SO not taking the blame for this one.
Then Midori appears, with the declaring they needed a reminder and Sayaka appears, but Natsuki could careless as she continue to toss daggers in Kozue's direction.
If looks could kill...
<Pose Tracker> Shizuru Fujino [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Kozue shifting that close to Natsuki draws red eyes sharply in her direction, as for a few moments she focuses only on them. She gets closer still than that. That little movement...
Shizuru sees something like guilt, all right, and Kozue has the chance to meet Shizuru's eyes long enough to see real displeasure in her gaze. ...It's not unknown that Shizuru and Natsuki know one another, to those who know how to ask.
Her glare keeps up until Kozue looks back to where she was.
Vita however gets a look, a lifted eyebrow, and then a slow shake of her head when Vita gives her that confused look. Obviously she's not in real trouble, so says the bluster of her body language. Would a girl in trouble still be sipping tea? "How inspiring," she answers simply. Then there's the ingredients. "My."
Nori diverts fire, and Shizuru laughs faintly, a small chuckle that lasts for just a few moments. Also drawing her attention is the blast of music. Shizuru watches Midori, expression blankly pleasant, and then--
Ah.
Instead she looks at Fuu as Fuu continues to speak with her. Shizuru lifts an eyebrow at her, one of her best 'wait it out' expressions. "You underestimate yourselves," Shizuru answers simply, in the same pleasant tone as everything else she's said. The arm in the sling remains still.
Pleasant but with a bit of a bite, "But is that how it works? My, such an expert on baking can surely win the day with any number of hearts." Teasip.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
The judges have ranged on a vast spectrum from politely attentive (Miki Kaoru) to passionately intense (Kyouichi Saionji, though he's imagining another contestant) to aloofly smug (Touga Kiryuu). The latter glances at his underclassman, and shrugs, a movement so fluid that it ripples from his shoulders down his torso while also tousling his perfect hair.
"It wouldn't be the first time," he rumbles, an extra hint of good cheer in his voice just for Miki. "But... in a garden such as this, who could possibly pick a single flower? We're lucky boys, to get to taste so many flavors today."
On the mostly-deforested hill off to one side of campus, another boy, who was not invited to the judge's podium, is hanging upside-down by his legs from a charred tree branch. "Awww..." he mourns. "A cake contest... that sounds so good. I want to try Mai's cake..."
Nagi looks straight into the camera.
"...don't you?"
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
The crowd cheers for Sayaka.
Homura spills more flour.
"Next time," she mutters. "Next. Time."
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
It WAS a contest... wasn't it? Sucy continues to think to herself. This is a good simple cake, great for those who weren't expecting to cook today, which was all of them, but especially those who arrived in a sack, but... was there a prize for winning? Should they try to win? Sucy decides they should, and if this cake really wants to impress, it might need something... extra...
In charge of the wet ingredients already, Sucy goes and gets a small bowl and the vanilla and almond extracts for the cake, and pours the right amount together.
Then, she reaches under her apron into one of her blazer pockets... She remembers! Lucky again! She has just the thing..!
She pulls out a small vial with stylized wings on the stopper.
It's an Angel Food Cake, so these Angel Tears (received as a free gift with her order of Devil Crys from the Witch Shopping Netork) would be perfect! She was wondering how best to use these anyway...
She adds a comparable amount of liquid as the other flavor extracts to the bowl and mixes them together.
What exactly did this Celestial Seasoning do again...
It will make the cake shine, it will make it seem to sing a small divine hymn when you're close and a large chorus when bite into it, and most importantly, it will taste truly heavenly. She keeps the bowl ready. Was there anything else...? Well surely it will be fine.
Sucy pulls out a small handwritten book from her other pocket, and pages through it with her brief downtime, She knows it was in here somewhere...
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Miki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Is cooking really something you're supposed to watch?" Sayaka asks tentatively.
Madoka, seated next to her, recognizes the typical insecurity in Sayaka's query. Whenever she's not interested in something that would make her a more perfect, Hitomi-like woman, she tries to make herself interested as soon as she recognizes it. The real question is, is this part of the curriculum?
Sayaka's phone very distinctly does not ring when Midori dials. She isn't even particularly paying attention to Midori, still chatting to Madoka as Midori approaches. Sayaka's first cognizance of the approach comes when she catches her name and sees everyone turn to her. She catches up with a mental record scratch and blushes red instantly, lifting up clawed nervous hands as she glances back and forth with wide swings of her head. "W-wait, what? Who called me? I..." Everyone seems to start rooting for her to go down, taking Midori's enthusiasm in place of any particular excitement about the center fielder turning chef. "Ehh-hehhh..." Sayaka gives Madoka a last pleading glance, then walks out.
The enthusiasm increases, and there's a very handsome blue-haired judge watching. Sayaka she starts jogging instead, lifting both hands in abashed victory signs as she reaches the team of delinquents.
"Uh, hey, transfer student," she greets the first familiar face. She hasn't been paying much attention. Glancing over the cakes, she blances. "W-what the hell is this?" she demands of Homura, less angry and more flabbergasted. "Is this how you made cakes at your old school? I mean..." What's she here to do again?
"Teamwork," she gasps out. "We need more... teamwork. So... um, Kuga-chan... can be the leader maybe..." Homura's the obvious choice, but Sayaka doesn't trust her at all. "And..." Sayaka freezes up, failing to notice the immense number of eggs Mikoto is laying out.
"Kozue-chan... can..." Sayaka's mouth dries up. Why does she have to be on THIS team? Eggs are being butchered even as Sayaka starts to lock up in anxiety over this stage-nightmare of a day.
Madoka Kaname is inviting you to teleport +join or +summon them.
Type: '+join Madoka Kaname' or '+summon Madoka Kaname'. Or type: '+port deny'.
<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kaname [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
@emit
Just as the applause for Sayaka starts to ebb with the tides, Madoka finishes screwing up her guts to cheer really loudly.
"GANBATTE, SAYAKA-CHAAAAAN!!"
It echoes into the silence. There's scattered laughter.
Nobody will need a space heater in that part of the bleachers now.
<Pose Tracker> Vita [None] has posed.
Vita isn't a team mate she is Y O U R M A S T E R
She nods decisively at Endo. "Good man!" she declares, and holds up a hand high enough that other teams might even actually see her. (In addition to hearing her.) (Dang this kid can yell). "You stir like you mean it and you might not get fed to wolves later or whatever!"
Shizuru has quietly indicated she's fine and Vita, frankly, doesn't care that much, so she just lets that whole thing go by. "Well I'm sure you'll do something useful someday," Vita says, firmly, before turning back to yell at Nori for picking something gross like almonds.
Ah but Nori has a retort. "Oh," Vita says, slowly. "Well, shucks. I like strawberries..."
One gets the sense this pick was perhaps not made for her secret depth of culinary experience.
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Nori's nose twitches when a bottle of tears gets unstoppered. Her head turns to look RIGHT at Sucy... But it's probably a coincidence.
She defends herself to Vita with some assurance. "Almond rum is a very good combination, it tastes super nice. It's like this sweet sauce that's redolent with the scent of the burned cane and the warm crispness of the toasted nut. If you made it with almond milk, it's even better."
Nori just made that up because Nori has been raised by an otter, and while she otter know better than to speculate on such things, she doesn't.
"Should we get beef heart?" Nori asks Fuu. "I don't follow."
After this Nori will start to get her oversupply of eggs and crack crack crack, the egg into the bowl. Hopefully, Endo can M I X. Sayaka also gets a brief ovoid salute in passing, but she's too focused to try to chat more.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
The stick of butter slips right out of Natsuki's fingers, and Kozue gives her this innocent grin, "I'd never think of you as a toy Kuga. Promise. I have high standards when it comes to girls like you." She runs a hand through her hair, "Maybe I can tell you all about them, later." A beat, as the burning smells tarts and she scrambles to save them. The accusation comes, "Me? And what did I do Kuga? Come on- your teammates are counting on you to salvage your mistake."
They are certainly not getting along. And Midori's bright idea is not one she could have ever expected. When Midori says softball, Kozue stops what she's doing to murmur, "She couldn't..."
Her eyes fasten on Midori in that moment, as she grows a shade more pale, eyes widening in true horror at the idea that she might have that kind of insight into the workings of her life. A hand grips the side of the counter so hard that one might swear she's going to leave identions in it."
Her breath hisses through her teeth once, as she allows her chin to drop and tries to compose herself.
She could work with this. When life gives you lemons...
Kozue too fails to notice Mikoto eagerly laying out eggs. She trusted a cheerful force of chaos to act like a cheerful force of chaos.
But as her name exits Sayaka's lips, she's totally composed again. Turning to her, there's that playful smile there that she knows all too well, "Well- what is it Sayaka-chan? You know that I'll do anything you want..." She leans in just slightly closer to the girl whose mouth now suddenly seems like the Sahara desert. Her own eyes twinkling, as she says in a low tone, "...anything at all, for you."
But- GANBATTE, SAYAKA-CHAAAAAN!!
That draws her eyes towards the pink head of hair drawing laughter in the crowd. It gives her the perfect, kind of inspiration. "She really is your biggest fan. I know you were looking forward to introducing the two of us properly, but-" Her eyes return to Sayaka, "-I actually got to meet her at the Christmas party... Poor thing. She was so out of her element. She ended up shouting the most interesting thing for everyone to hear. Do you want to know what it was?"
She doesn't wait for Sayaka to even answer- as she takes a step forward, then leans towards her. Her next comment inaudible to all the girls at the table, save for Sayaka- it's whispered so close to the lobe of her ear, as she looks past her, directly at Miki- at the judge's table. "-you. have. Miki-kun."
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Makoto's a great chef. Sucy is...deserving of being named in their team's name, for some probably-good reason. Hikaru seems to be pretty good with a blade.
Mai, desperately whipping cream into soft peaks by hand, is pretty sure her team has things under control. Sure, her arms might be beginning to tire, but without a powered beater there's nothing for it but to use brute force. Her gaze is locked on the bowl before her, a frown on her face betraying her concentration as she weighs the lemon in her hand...
An exclamation behind her jolts her, surprises her enough that the poor lemon goes airborne. Mai juggles frantically, trying to avoid losing the fruit before finally catching it. She spins on the spot, gripping the poor citrus tightly. "What's the big - egg-separating? That's always a pain..." She can't help but be curious, though, and goes to investigate.
"...you're done already, Sucy-san? Impressive!" Mai peers at the bowl of egg whites, noticing the colour off just enough to suggest that the flavours have been added. One sniff, and a look of contentment crosses her face. "Now that's heavenly. This should be great - could you give me a hand, if things are under control here? I wanted to try making a lemon whipped cream, but I'm worried about overdoing it with the zest..."
It's teamwork, right? What's the worst that could happen if Sucy doesn't finish reading that pamphlet?
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
What More Could Possibly Go Wrong?
~Ideas, Just For you~
- Problematically, not a lot of the ingredients on the table are well-labeled. It's really easy to mismatch salt and sugar, or more subtly various consistencies of flour.
- Eggs are easy to identify, but these are extremely fresh eggs and particularly difficult to crack cleanly. There are not an unlimited number. There may be a shortage. There may need to be a raid on Mikoto's one-egg bowls. There may also be eggs that are not from chickens...
- This is Ohtori so the ranges are definitely gas. Pro: total control. Con: no labels to give a little heat guidance...
- All of the cookware is extremely fine. Which is to say breakable. And expensive...
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Sucy seems to have the egg-separating well in hand, and if she's that good at *that* task, surely she can be trusted to handle the rest of the wet ingredients. Makoto, somewhat naively, focuses on the dry ingredients, mixing in the appropriate amount of sugar once she's done sifting the cake flour. It's not a task that takes long, but it's long enough for her to totally fail to notice Sucy adding in a Little Somethin' Somethin' in with the extracts.
Then she grabs a new bowl, attaches a bowl guard onto it, and fetches a whisk. They might not have an electric mixer, but that's totally fine: Makoto's arms will never tire. *Now* she looks at Sucy, in time for her to pull out her little notebook. "Sucy-san? Could you hand me the egg whites? If they're room temperature already, I'll go ahead and start beating them!" They'll need the cream of tartar and salt first, but that's done easily enough.
Ah, but there's Mai, and her near-spill with the lmon! Makoto looks over her shoulder at her. "Ah, sorry, senpai! Didn't mean to startle you! It looks like we're okay here so far, so you can go ahead and help her out, Sucy-san. I'll take care of whipping and mixing!"
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Natsuki is too angry to notice the steadily growing number of cracked eggs done by the gleeful Mikoto. "YOUR TEAM MATES?!" she spat. "Don't you mean ours?! YOU'RE ON THIS TEAM, SO WHY NOT QUITE PLAYING AROUND AND ACTUALLY HELP OUT!" Yet, Kozue's attention is drawn away by the arrival of Sakaya. She doesn't really pay attention to what she is actually saying, but the smirk she is giving is just ticking off Natsuki more and more.
She steals a glance at Shizuru as she feels the anger inside her boil her up like a kettle.
She has had it with this competition, this stupid class and this girl getting up in her face. Without a second thought, she picked up the bag of powdered sugar.
"You're so sour, WHY NOT TRY BEING SWEET FOR ONCE!" Natsuki quips as she promptly dumps the powdered sugar on Kozue's head.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Poor Mikoto, nobody is appreciating her mad skills.
Nobody, that is, but Sister Sanada, who is finding it easier to watch over the animal among god's children rather than the would-be adults.
"Ah... Mikoto-chan..."
She can't decide what to do, and finally bows her head.
"...let us pray..."
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"This--no, that would be idiotic," Homura says. "I spilled some, Miki-san. I'm sure you've seen that before."
She frowns at her, but it's wary -- and weary. She sighs, and then she starts to clean up the mess she made. She doesn't, however, take to Sayaka's orders. Oh, she doesn't argue with them -- she just doesn't move to follow them. After she sweeps up the flour, she begins pouring it into a bowl.
Then she goes for the salt and the baking powder, and makes ready to sift it. Except, she jerks at the 'GANBATTE, SAYAKA--CHAAAAAN!!'
She spills out half of the can of baking powder, right into the lovely bowl of flour she had. She looks down at it -- and debates whether to bother fixing it.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran is jolted from her search by Mai's request. Her unfortunately reasonable request that Sucy has no good excuse to deny. So she quickly puts the thin diary-sized-book in her pocket, and Makoto comes with another reasonable request! It WAS a Team Effort! So Sucy does her best and hands Makoto the room temperature egg whites and points to Mai and says before leaving: "I'm going to help her withthe zest real quick. I already added the extracts to the eggs." then points to the bowl. She moves over to Mai and at her direction begins to zest, carefully but briskly, and ends up with a very reasonable looking amount.
Mai had no way of knowing, but Sucy is actually well-suited to this task. One advantage of being a poisoner and alchemist by trade is that she's very practiced at producing minute quantities of sensitive ingredients from larger sources, even able to eyeball the right amounts as she looks between the amount of cream being used and the citrus she's zesting.
She nods to Mai and passes over the zest.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
The maid supervising Station Three has been mostly staying out of the way, arms folded and smile approving. Occasionally she can't resist helping -- just a little -- by fetching various ingredients.
She pauses over the wet bowl Sucy's stirred up, though, and gives it a long, thoughtful SNIFF.
Her smile broadens.
"Now now, the conditions were to use the ingredients on the table. Do I, perhaps, detect an additive?"
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Tap, tap, crack! Tap, tap, crack! While Natsuki and Homura suffer misfortune, Mikoto is killing it on the counter. Specifically, she is killing eggs. Two, five, eight, ten... how many bowls does she even have to fill?! The countertop is getting kind of crowded, but Mikoto is absorbed in her task.
But there's a familiar voice in the air, a voice which makes Mikoto's shoulders tense. Her hands grip, and the egg she was supposed to free into the eleventh bowl turns into shell-mired goop in her hand. She opens her fingers, and it drip-drips down, shell and pierced yolk and all.
There is an enemy here.
Now, here's a detail Sayaka might appreciate. When Midori had scruffed Mikoto just as she was about to leap from one roof to another, held her up by her shirt like a chastised cat, she'd insisted that her exam be a no-sword event. Mikoto had fought the idea, because she was the keeper of Miroku, and it had to be with her! But Midori had a way of being extremely persuasive, though we may never know the extent of her persuasiveness. Eventually, Mikoto had capitulated. For this one event, no sword.
So, Miroku is locked up, somewhere safe. Mikoto could summon it to her side, but that would elicit the suspicion of the entire school, something Mai has counselled her against time and time again. A sword out of a bag might be Ohtori-standard, but a sword out of nowhere? Her hand shoots out as if to grasp her claymore, but the thought gives her pause as she opens her mouth to say the word.
She looks to the crowd. She looks back to Sayaka. She does not summon Miroku. She stares, for a long, stretching, thoroughly uncomfortable moment. If only she'd go back to her eggs!
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran stays stone-faced at this accusation and mutters, half to Fumi half to herself as she looks around for something else to do. "The ingredients here are of the highest quality, they do smell different from what you can get in stores.It threw me off a bit too at first." She thinks about checking the book again, but there will be plenty of time when the cake bakes.
"Do you need help whipping that?" Sucy asks Mai.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (9)] has posed.
So Shizuru is slacking off again. Fuu knows a lost battle when she sees one; she's not going to use further energy or brainpower trying to connive her into working with the team at this point. At least if Shizuru is standing around sipping tea, she can't make the process turn out any worse.
Although ....
"I wonder - instead of the usual ring pan, perhaps we could serve it in the form of tea cakes?" Fuu muses. Almond-rum-iced pound tea cakes ... it *sounds* like it should work. And it sounds like, as long as they produce an edible cake, they'll probably fare better than at least *one* of the other teams. "- No, no beef heart, I don't think any beef anything was on the ingredients table. Unless you count milk which isn't going to taste anything like meat ..."
She gets to work on measuring ingredients, only to realize very quickly that they're dealing with incomplete measuring sets. And while Fuu's mathematical chops are second to almost nobody's, she still needs to memorize how the various units of cooking measurement interrelate ...
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Especially since Nori's response to this lack of good measuring tools is to say, "That looks right" and immediately try to dump in the sugar.
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mai's decoration is a little...experimental. Four bowls of cream - a plain bowl as control she needs to start whipping up, a second to be zested up in the hopes of adding some colour and flavour. "Yellow, red...maybe we need something blue? Though with the strawberries...oh, thanks!" Mai takes the bowl, pours it in, and starts dutifully whisking - though she pauses in surprise quickly enough. "Wait, that's a lot more than I was expecting - are you sure it'll be fine? And uh, sure, be my guest..." She hands over the bowl and whisk, frowning to herself.
Why couldn't the theme have been something served hot?
She glances between white and yellow-flecked creams, chewing her lip in indecision...but finally lets out a sigh. "All right. I was wondering if a little more lemon might go well with the strawberries - I'll take that zested one, and try to get a little juice out of it." She makes a few careful measurements into a small pot, firing up the burner - which is nice and hot, that's nice - and carefully holds the lemon. "I just need a few teaspoons..."
And then Natsuki starts shouting, and Mai's gaze snaps up in alarm. "She's not seriously - Kuga, what in the world are you DOING over there?!"
Whoops. She kind of crushed the lemon, and now there's a lot more juice in that pot than planned. Will that be fine?...
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Makoto is about to take that whisk to the egg whites, which according to Sucy have already had the extracts added, when Fumi leans in to give it a long SNIFF and suggests that maybe something that wasn't on the table was used. "Wait, what?" she utters, surprised. She looks over at Sucy, who remarks on the high quality of the ingredients. "Ahh, yeah, they really are on another level, aren't they?" she remarks thoughtfully. "I get the best ingredients I can with my budget, but I don't think I could afford even one of these fancy eggs!"
She's joking. Mostly. Maybe??
"Is there really a problem, though?" she asks Fumi, looking a little worried. "Nothing smells sour or spoiled, does it?" It all smells fine to her, and she trusts in her nose, but she's willing to accept that someone might have a sharper sense of smell than her. After all, Fumi *is* helping out! Surely there was a reason for it!
But if she has to redo the wet ingredients all over, when the number of eggs in the room has DRASTICALLY dwindled, Makoto might cry.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran takes the bowl from Mai and begins to whisk and whisk, looking very industrious and busy, but thoughtful, the model of a student who is truly making the best of her cooking education.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Miki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"M-madoka-chan," Sayaka's eyes sparkle joyously. She sees the awkward void that follows, rather than the hoped-for surge of enthusiasm, and she ends up more embarrassed than she started... but at least no longer alone in it. "Madoka-chan!" she whispers sharply, greatly moved.
Sayaka likes a little anger to get her out of fear. "What do you mean, spilled some?" Sayaka demands of Homura briefly, both confused and annoyed. "Why were there noodles even close to the cake to be spilled?" She takes a deep breath, which is good, because when Kozue steps in all close she ends up holding it, looking a little overinflated.
Kozue doesn't seem angry at her, which is a mixed relief. Kozue's usual self is perhaps worse, however, particularly with her brother right over there, watching with his typically mysterious attentiveness. Sayaka bends over diagonally away from Kozue, worried he'll get ideas. WRONG ideas.
"Ahm," she expels a syllable like a little burst of steam. "W-well, this is very important for... your grade..." Sayaka's leaning far over the counter, her abashed countenance reflected in dozens of gleaming single yolks. "So... it..." She seems to have forgotten where she was going with that.
Her eyes sharpen at the mention of Madoka, and she's able to look at Kozue again, angrily. But the revelation of Madoka's indiscretion causes blue eyes to fly to the pink-haired whistleblower in shock, then back to Kozue in vague distrust. She and Kozue look to Miki at the same time--surely an odd moment for the boy.
But Natsuki's aggressive anti-Kozue policy interrupts. A torrent of sugar drops down into Kozue's hair. Sayaka needed that rescue desperately and in a just world she would thank Natsuki from the heart. In a just world, however, there would be no One-Egg Bowls and these teams would be very different.
"KuuuuGA!" Sayaka shouts, getting a shoulder between Kozue and the biker girl, while the other shoulder draws back. A brawl has started in the delinquent group, and Natsuki could easily stop such a well-telegraphed punch!
If it was actually a punch.
Slinging one of the one-egg bowls, Sayaka whips an egg yolk-first through the air at Natsuki's face.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo can mix! Thankfully. It's not a very hard job. He does so with gusto, enough to threaten the actual mixture with violent ejection at several points. Thankfully, it never gets quite that far. He dutifully mixes in Fuu's clump of sugar, and whatever else they decide to throw in there. Somewhere deep in his heart he's disappointed they didn't decide to mix in the beef.
"A tea cake sounds alright. That's a little less boring than a ring cake." Endo chimes. BUT IT'S NOT NOT-BORING ENOUGH. The cake must be augmented further.
"We should add some spice to it, right? For flavor?" Somewhere--somehow--Endo's gotten ahold of a vial of pepper flakes. He attempts to add them to the batter. Liberally. Now it's a spiced cake. He's pretty sure this is how spiced cake work.
<Pose Tracker> Hikaru Shidou [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
At first, Hikaru is merely focused on helping her team. She just wants to put what happened earlier behind her and have a good time. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case...
She hears the sound of fighting starting, and Hikaru looks up to notice Sayaka taking an egg and throwing it at Natsuki. "A food fight? No! Stop!" Hikaru calls out.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
"Yea, and the lord sayeth, thou must breaketh an egg to make an omelette, but do not wasteth an egg as ammunition in a fight!" moans Sister Sanada frantically...
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
As Mikoto stares at Sayaka, and the situation around them escalates, Mikoto realises what she has to do to defend her friends. Sister Sanada prays, and Mikoto leaps over the table, foot catching on the handle of the chocolate saucepan and sending it spilling over all of the eggs she's so painstakingly made - aside from the one Sayaka has appropriated, of course. The chocolate sizzles at it catches on the eggs, runny clear yolk turning white at the edges as the heat cooks it.
Mikoto leaves a sticky egg-and-shell handprint as she springs off of the table, towards Sayaka. She yells, some wordless protest, fully intending to chase the other girl down.
The fact that Kozue and Natsuki are also fighting seems entirely secondary to Mikoto's concerns right now. Because everyone is fighting, and it's obvious who she should be fighting.
<Pose Tracker> Vita [None] has posed.
Fuu offers a suggestion and Vita stomps her feet. "Are you nuts?! Don't get sassy just because you got nice shoes, kid!" SAYS THE LITERAL CHILD "Slow and steady! Nice and easy! You'll get there as long as you hold 'er steady and do your job!"
Pause. She points over at Team One. "Also don't do that! The sugar goes in the bowl." She says it like it's informative.
Endo's going for spice. "What!" Vita yelps, throwing her hands up. VITA LEARNED ABOUT CAKES FROM THE ABSOLUTE MOST BEST CAKE PERSON OKAY SHE KNOWS ALL ABOUT THEM "No! Wrong! Stick to stirring! You're useful as long as you don't think!"
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
"Use cloves or something," says Nori, though you should probably intervene because as a gothic girl 'cloves' may be even worse than red pepper coming from her. No pressure, Fuu!
"see," she asides, when Vita interjects. I am so good at baking, Nori thinks to herself with absolutely no justification.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
The maid gives Sucy a long, penetrating look, and casts that serious gaze around the group, levelly weighing Mai, Makoto and Hikaru's souls against the feather in her heart.
"...very well, girls," she says, finally, with far more gravity than the actual priestess on stage could hope to levy against her own charges.
The chaos unfolding two doors down hasn't caught her eye quite yet; instead she watches, attentively, as her own team starts to assemble their many disparate mixtures.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Homura picks up the flour bowl, and sighs. She turns, starting for the trash...
...but the flour on the floor is, in its own way, slick. Her foot slips -- and she falls flat on her back with a THUD. She lays there, dazed, staring at the ceiling for a moment.
Really, she needs it.
<Pose Tracker> Shizuru Fujino [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Shizuru hears Vita's encouragement towards usefulness, and lifts her teacup slightly in recognition. Her answer comes as Vita is turning. "I doubt it," the red-eyed girl answers smoothly. But she's distracted further from her little battle with Fuu as Natsuki starts shouting at Kozue. Without so much as a gesture she's focused over that way, and Natsuki glances at her once. Shizuru looks much like she always does, save that she offers a soft smile.
And then the sugar. Shizuru glances at that thoughtfully for a moment.
Maybe she's keeping it in mind. After all, it says rather a lot. She can likelymake sure...
The further ideas and suggestions about their cake are ignored as Shizuru reaches down and refills her tea. Nori seems to have the ingredients more generally handled, and Shizuru smirks in incredible satisfaction as Vita shouts at Fuu. She knew that she liked that girl. But Endo going for the spice she spots. She looks pleased as things generaly seem to go to hell. "How very creative," the Vice President says, and turns away from the group without even pretending to be paying attention to their cake anymore. Instead...
Sayaka throws eggs at Natsuki. Shizuru's fingers curl more tightly about her teacup. She sips, and watches. Mikoto jumping is interesting enough. "...Mm," she says. A pause, and then more brightly, "Oh, my. How messy."
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran finishes her assigned whipping and passes the bowl back to Mai for use, she thinks to say "Should these be refigerated until after the cake bakes?" but then remembers Mai is adding flavor to them first, and defers to Cake-Senpai Mai.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
"Just like my senpai to want to come to my academic rescue." She says to Sayaka in a sotto voce. She finds herself amused by the shock in the other girl's eyes.
But then she only has a moment's warning. From Natsuki's statement- not long enough to completely even turn her head. When suddenly she's covered from head to toe in powdery white. There's a certain gradient to it. Her hair, her face, looks completely covered like she's some sort of powdery spectre, with only hints of the blunette peeking out from how unevenly her hair sifts through the sugar. This goes down to her neck and shoulders. Through the rest of the torso of her uniform jacket and blouse, incompletely covering her skirt- leggings- only giving the lightest dusting of her shoes.
One of her hands clenches in anger.
The thing about Kozue though is that her vengeance was rarely public. And while she wants to do nothing more than slap the smug off Natsuki's face- right now it wouldn't serve. Maybe she'd just reserve a staircase for her later.
Slowly, as if she's trying to retain her dignity, she brushes a hand across her face. She shakes her head lightly, casting it off like some snowy shower from her hair.
Her eyes finally meet Natsuki's. Meet them, and- "I didn't know you wanted to help me wash up- this badl-"
She figures that Natsuki was expecting her to fight. What shocks her is the way that Sayaka steps in, tossing a bowl full of one of Mikoto's egg yolks at Natsuki. "Sayaka!? You-" Covering her in that. Kozue sucks in her lip, bites down, desperate not to laugh, but she feels it, her whole self shaking with laughter, before finally she belts out a laugh, howling with laughter in seconds.
But she doesn't actually, because then Mikoto comes in to join the fight.
It's a three way brawl before she knows it.
First she grabs a bowl, and she watches Homura slip flat on her back. Her whole self shaking, she grabs a bowl while laughing, and turns it upside down so the yolky mess will fall down her.
She's already looking for another bowl, to fling more at Natsuki.
... She would never admit it to anyone, but she's glad she came today. As right now she's actually having fun from these turn of events.
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
"Aaah...really? You think cloves are better?" Endo seems incredulous about this. He will, however, gently sprinkle a few in.
"I can do more than stir, you know." Endo attempts to defend himself from Vita ridicule. "I make food all the time!"
And, when he thinks nobody is looking, he just dumps in an entire fistful of pepper flakes. They'll thank him later, he's sure.
<Pose Tracker> Natsuki Kuga [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Natsuki is feeling rather proud at seeing the sugar covered Kozue, but it's short lived as choas seems to break loose.
"I'm having vengeance!" she shouts at Mai. "Stay out of it-"
It is cut off as Sayaka tosses the egg at Natsuki's face. Does she question why there are suddenly so many bowls with only one egg yolk in them? No. Because all Natsuki could concentrate on is that she literally had egg on her face.
It doesn't stop there. Mikoto attacks back and then Kozue takes it upon her self to throw more eggs while laughing.
Natsuki tries to shield herself, and her anger is only further fuled. She scowls and doesn't waste a beat to seize two bowls and tosses and egg both at Sayaka and at Kozue.
"Mikoto," Natsuki calls out as she flings more eggs. "Bowl of strawberries to your right! Use as ammo!"
It wasn't just a competition anymore.
IT. WAS. WAR.
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Well! That seems to be that, then! Makoto beams at Fumi, who gives them the okay, and then proceeds with whipping the eggs. Once they get peaky, she'll mix in the rest of the ingredients, nice and slow, and continue to mix to hard peaks...
Wow, though, it's not even baked yet and this mixture really *does* smell delicious.
She's not even. gonna. get involved with that food fight over there. HIKARU IT'S ALL ON YOU.
<Pose Tracker> Takeo Akamizu [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Takeo stares in abject horror at the murder of all this food. Thankfully none of these appear to be bacon ... He watches the beginning of the food battle begin to take shape and grins slightly. "Man. I wish I wasn't judging. I'd never stop eating ... "
<Pose Tracker> Mai Tokiha [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mai is stirring her 'lemon curd' on the stove - though with the amount of lemon and a mysterious shortage of eggs, it's rapidly becoming super-sour lemon sugar shards. Not that she's aware of the state of this pot; her eyes are rather caught up in seeing Team One devolve into complete and total chaos. It's like a train wreck.
"Oh, Mikoto, please don't - at least she doesn't have her sword. There's that mercy. No swords. No cake swords. I just - ack!" She dives for cover behind the stove for a moment as one flung bowl goes a little wide, peering up again as Hikaru runs forward in protest. "Be careful, Shidou-san - this is just getting - oh no."
Mai just takes deep breaths, eyes snapping wide open in near-fury at Natsuki's retort and escalation. "Kuga, don't encourage her- that's it! I wash my hands of this! You're really just redefining 'piece of cake' here!" With a huff, she turns to her curd - which is not a curd, whisk it, stir it, take it off the heat and shake the pot frantically - and then there's a question from Sucy. "What? Refri- oh cats in a handbasket, I started too early. Uh, yes, do that - I have to make sure this doesn't burn. Thank you! And - thanks for keeping things under control, Kino-san!"
Okay. So it's shards, a little burnt, and it smells super-lemony. Probably fine for decoration. Next ingredient...
In the midst of chaos, Mai strides determinedly towards the ingredient table, and starts rummaging. For certain types of cake, coffee or espresso is warranted, and frankly that sounds like a perfect idea right now.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Miki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Psycho Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMTrVgpDwPk
Sayaka has heard that yell before, when Mikoto Minagi ran rampant through the ranks of the Chevaliers. She didn't expect to hear it now, but the neurons link up instantly as she turns to look at Mikoto. Her knightly determination to defend the unjustly(???) assailed Kozue had her jaw firm and her eyes clear, but suddenly the former is wobbly and the latter are huge. She scrambles across the one-egg bowls on the table, and they in turn scramble a bit from the disruption, as Sayaka scurries over and more or less falls off the other side, flopping onto her knees. She immediately starts scurrying away. "Hey! W-wait! We're at school!"
Stumbling into a headlong run, Sayaka takes an egg to the back of the head, and has the spare outrage to glare at Natsuki. Then she buzzes Sister Sanada, sending her habit fluttering, and leaps up onto Team 2's table. "Ah! Nori-chan, sorry, sorry!" Sayaka's combination of athleticism and politeness leads her to thread her way unerringly across the counter, dancing on one foot at points to avoid hitting any important ingredients. When she leaps off the other edge, everything is actually just fine.
But be it upon Sayaka's head, whatever the pursuing tiger might do when she traverses the same path...
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran looks over for the first time at the chaos happening at the other stations and her mouth opens a little. Akko isn't here... right? No she doesn't see her, and yet on it goes. Sucy considers whether to get involved or exacerbate the situation with a prank, but it looks like things are already interesting and spiralling out of control enough without her help. Also the maid is watching her. She shrugs and puts her hands in her apron pocket. The other teams can sabotage themselves all they want, that's perfectly fine with Sucy. Does she smell burnt lemon?
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
From his distant tree, Nagi squints at the stage floor chaos. He glances down, out of frame, at someone -- something? -- else. And he smiles a second time, the twist of his lips spreading from one eye to the other in a nasty wave.
"I was going to send you to go join the celebration... but that party's already plenty rough, ne?"
The Cake Eater shrugs its single eyeball-tentacle in response, then turns to seek out alternative prey...
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Nori jumps when her cooking space suddenly contains -- is it Gordon Ramsay!? Gordon the Rabbit? G. Gordon Liddy? No! It's Sayaka-chan! "Ah!" she says, leaning backwards and immediately dropping two eggs, which land on the floor with a splat, ruining a chicken's day's work.
"We need to put these in the oven immediately, Naoki!" Nori says to Endo, inspired perhaps by the near presence of her secret magical girl leader. "Umm... I don't know what to put them in. Ah!"
Slam! Muffin tray.
"Wait, wait -"
Nori places the little paper doilies in them. Three in each section. Well, she's trying.
"Here, pour in the batter..."
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
"Leave it to me!" Makoto tells Mai, because by god she is GOING to pass this final or DIE TRYING. She's intensely grateful that she was put on a team with reasonable people and not... Team Food Fight over there. TRA LA LA COOKING MONTAGE, HARD PEAKS, POURING BATTER, KNIFE THROUGH BATTER, CAKE IN OVEN, TIME TO BAAAAAAKE!
<Pose Tracker> Vita [None] has posed.
Vita doesn't know what a clove is on account of not caring, so she lets that pass.
Hm. This is all going pretty chaotic, but her team is keeping it together thanks to her strong leadership! This is what being a cool, great person will get you.
She utterly misses Endo "spicing" the cake, but she does grunt, "Sure you can! I bet you just throw chicken in a pan and call it caviar!"
...despite acting like tea cakes was insanity she apparently has no objection to the muffin tray. She nods, sternly. She might be attempting to emulate Signum.
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Natsuki throws an egg at her, and it splatters against her shoulder, sending a yellow trickle over her face. "Vengeance!? And here I thought you were just into me Kuga!" Grabbing a carton of milk, she tugs it open, and slings it her way as if to splash all of it on her.
Mikoto though is chasing Sayaka around the table for an all out brawl as the other girl hot foots it up onto the opposite table.
This would be amusing just to watch, but she feels obligated to help the girl who came to her defense. Dashing past Sister Sanada in a way that likely causes her even more grief- she rushes over to the ingredient table, in a move that would surely shock any cook here. She yanks the tablecloth out.
Lacking the deftness of a magician, this causes all of the bowls and plates and ingredients to hit the ground, instantly creating a ever-growing mess and depriving all the teams of further ingredients that haven't been claimed.
Taking the crimson- rose printed tablecloth, she balls it up in her arms runs towards Sayaka trying to catch up to her sprint along the table and from her position below- "Sayaka- take this!"
Tosses it up to her.
Assuming she catches it, this action is perhaps puzzling until- "You know? Like a bullfighter? Toro!"
It seemed like a good idea in her head.
Results may vary in actual execution.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
As the food fight rages around them - Natsuki yelling something about strawberries - Mikoto leaps towards Sayaka. 'We're at school!', she protests, and Mikoto doesn't bother telling her that's why she has to chase her out of the crowd.
But Sayaka, for all her jaw wavers, is very fast. Mikoto lands on solid ground where Sayaka ought to have been, and springs after her, running on all fours like some kind of demonic cat. (Those are the rumours, after all. It's just one of the strange events at Ohtori...)
Sayaka almost runs into Sister Sanada, and Mikoto clips her leg as she runs past, low to the ground and easily tripped over. Her prey shows signs of caring about the next table's cake, but Mikoto is much more single-minded, and as she leaps over the table she sends the shaker of pepper flakes flying through the air. (Hopefully not with Endo attached, but she's not really paying attention.) Where will it land?! Mikoto doesn't know, because she's already gone, knocking over a few more bowls on her way.
Hopefully, they weren't filled with anything important.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
"We should hurry up and get our cake in the oven as fast as we can." Sucy says to her Mai and Makoto with her normal flat cadence, but the slight air of concern, in hopes of grounding them from any distractions. Sucy might have ways to stop them from coming this way, but they would be very obviously magical. However, it might be worth the risk.
She was kidnapped from a full day of sitting the dark, reading and eating sweets!
She got thrown around in a bag like potatoes!
She had to work hard for this! All of them did, they didn't deserve to have it end like this! She even used a special ingredient too!
Sucy was going to try her best to keep the usual chaos from destroying her effort if she absolutely has to. But she hoped she wouldn't have to. "I can't stress that enough. I'll never say this again, but keep me busy, let me help. " and she offers herself to wherever she's useful, fading into the montage with determination.
<Pose Tracker> Shizuru Fujino [Ohtori Academy (12)] has posed.
Sayaka's appearance surprises Shizuru somewhat less than it would most of her team, because she's been watching that escalating brawl already with somethng like bored interest. It's a little more than that, though. As Mikoto chases down Sayaka as the other girl tries to run after what just happened...
Well, Shizuru is smiling as she's stepping back away from the counter. It doesn't last, but it's there to watch. She keeps sipping tea in the meantime, watching her go.
She could make one of her usual jokes, but... She doesn't actually bother.
She still isn't looking at her team. She looks through them to see what's going into the oven, but that's about it. She does notice a lack of strawberries in the air.
Even as the ingredients go down there's no reaction, as she hides well her satisfaction. But Mikoto rushes by, ramming through with pepper flakes in the air and bowls falling over. So... Shizuru shifts to the side a step, just enough to shift right into Endo with the batter bowl. "Ah. Oops."
As she speaks, the bowl tips over and starts running all over the counter to the floor, getting... everywhere but back where they are.
There's a pause.
"...If you can gather it up in five seconds, you can still use it."
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Miki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Da Do Ron Ron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-qqi7-Q19k
Kozue cuts across the hypoteneuse to catch up to the terrified Sayaka, and for a few seconds they are more or less running together. Sayaka stares at Kozue, aerobically breathless but also somewhat lost for how to respond. Kozue being openly benevolent to her is more or less unprecedented. She feels a little like she did when Madoka stood up and cheered for her.
Catching the tablecloth, she feels her stomach drop at the explanation. "Why would that work?!" she demands. "She's like, SUPER agile! She's the total opposite of a bull!" Sayaka has a video-game idea of people's abilities sometimes, but it's not inaccurate. "Do you want me to get beat up?"
Mikoto surges after, and Sayaka's forced to lay on the speed, leaving Kozue behind. Putting her chest out and stretching her legs into long leaping strides, she makes for the hills, but Mikoto is catching up. With no real option, Sayaka finally lets out a yelp and hurls the tablecloth behind her, letting it catch the wind...
<Pose Tracker> Endo Naoki [Juuban Public School (11)] has posed.
Endo does what he can to save the cake before utter chaos overtakes the arena. As Mikoto leaps across the table he grabs the batter bowl, snatching it up protectively.
Unfortunately he wasn't expecting this to be an inside job. Shizuru's bump is unexpected, and the batter goes pooling onto the ground.
"I've got it!" A frantic glance is cast around before he finds-the spoon he was using earlier! After a few moments of furious scraping he turns to Nori.
Forlornly, he deposits what's left into the muffin tray: one spoonful of cake batter.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed. <SoundTracker> For A Few Dollars More https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXQltR7vUQ
The nun is just straight up down for the count, having tripped over Mikoto and landed, face-first, in the oozing remains of Station Two's dropped batter.
The maid, though, has retained her composure, and she looks between Sucy and Makoto approvingly. "Good teamwork, girls," she murmurs. "Now, protect the cake."
And without further ado she steps into Mikoto's path, right after Sayaka has blown past.
It all happens so fast -- there's a flutter of lace, and a flash of metal. A knife? No, a spoon.
Its flat impacts with Mikoto's forehead with a dull sound.
KAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
It's Ohtori, someone rings a boxing bell.
The maid nods a satisfied little nod at the results of her handiwork, and turns on a low but lovely heel to check on her team--
--just in time for Sayaka's bullfighting blanket to fall straight over her head and torso. It's like draping a victorious Grecian statue. It's also like blinding a person who was moving towards THEIR CAKE.
And in slow motion, she falls towards Makoto and Sucy's freshly-baked handiwork...
<Pose Tracker> Kozue Kaoru [Ohtori Academy (8)] has posed.
Sayaka immediately starts criticizing her plan- and she finds herself just staring. Powdered sugar still gently falling off of her, yolk still shifting and-
Sayaka starts running, and she's no longer running beside her-
She's just watching the events unfold, eyebrow twitching, as she shouts after her indignantly-
"IT FELT LIKE A GOOD IDEA IN MY HEAD!"
But now she can only watch as a Maid KO's Mikoto- with a spoon.
She gapes for a few seconds, as the table cloth flutters over the maid- as she starts to fall-
Right towards the cake.
Part of her can only think distantly...
This couldn't have happened better if she'd planned it.
Maybe she should just never plan anything ever again.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Mikoto trails destruction in her wake, as she does; she's not looking behind her, but just ahead. Kozue cuts across and gives Sayaka a tablecloth - why would she help the enemy like that?! There's no time to worry about that, because Sayaka's still running, and Mikoto has to follow.
More like a charging tiger than a rampaging bull, Mikoto leaps, yelling, towards Sayaka once more. She sails through the air, hands outstretched to grasp and tear -
- and -
- impacts, sharply, with the flat of Fumi's spoon.
She tumbles in midair, but like the cats she's so often compared to, she lands on her feet in a three-point crouch. For a moment, everything is still, a breeze ruffling the arena of the exam.
Then, Mikoto collapses forward, as if it took her a moment to realise she's been thoroughly defeated.
COIN FLIP: Sucy Manbavaran flips a coin. It lands on heads!
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Miki [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Sayaka hears the clang, and glances back. Mikoto is down! And the tablecloth...
Skidding to a stop, Sayaka starts scrambling in the other direction while her momentum is still carrying her, thus flopping over on her butt. It is from this ignoble position that she witnesses the final end of Kozue's good-idea-in-her-head. She claps a hand over her mouth in shock.
"D... detention," she whispers in horror. She looks to Kozue, expecting to see the same expression.
Kozue does occasionally fail to live up to Sayaka's moral expectations.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran on edge, watching carefully, has prepared for this eventuality, it was a risk, this compound really wasn't designed for such a delicate situation and she had a plan.
At a point of maximum distraction, Sucy had pulled on a lip balm in a jar fashioned after cumulus, applying three layers of a slightly periwinkle lip balm that would be much more notciable one someone who looked like they had blood in their face. Her eye goes wide as she watches Fumi fall towards their cake, quickly whispers a word, and blows a kiss that comes out as a large puff of magical Wind that tries to intercept or redirect the falling maid!
But it's not strong enough, This concentration was weak, designed to help clear chalkboards for detention purposes. It wasn't what the compound was made for, so though a noticable gust of wind makes its way around her, enough to knock over small objects and ruffle the hair and cloths behind Fumi, the maid's trajectory is set and can't be broken. Sucy watches helplessly as she crashes onto the cake.
Their cake..!
And her face sinks into a resigned and dour sadness.
<Pose Tracker> Homura Akemi [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
At some point, Homura got herself off the floor and snuck to an oven.
She appears at the judges' table out of nowhere. The black-haired girl sits down, of all things, a shortcake piled with whip cream and topped with a strawberry. Who can say, exactly, when she made that? (The answer is a theoretical physicist or Sailor Pluto.)
She smiles, politely, at the judges. Then, she bows her waist slightly.
"Good afternoon," she says. "This is my entry."
She doesn't, pointedly, look back at either Sayaka, Kozue, or Mikoto. Instead, she just does it herself. This is the lesson that she has learned.
She has to do it by herself!
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
Midori, who has just been watching all this and enjoying the sweet, sweet feeling of the ratings pouring in in her imaginary OhTV channel, is finally forced to intervene come Presentation Time.
Homura tries to set down her cake, but gets blocked by the teacher, her arms crossed firmly in a buzzer's X.
"Diiiiiisqualified! For lack of teamwork! CAKE WARS!! is not a solo sport!" she declares, and in so doing denies the judges their only chance, in any timeline, at eating undamaged, non-toxic cake.
Miki Kaoru looks faintly disappointed; Saionji indifferent; Touga's talking to someone on his cell phone.
They have no idea what doom is yet to come.
<Pose Tracker> Nori Ankou [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.
Nori looks at the cake batter collection. "I never wanted to go to high school anyway," she says.
SOON
Well, there isn't a lot of it. But what there is has been carefully encrusted with nuts and saturated with rum. Nori used a little knife to cut it six different ways, suitable for all the judges and perhaps a taste for the rest of them. She also put it out on a slightly irregular gray earthenware plate, which probably doesn't help anything, but does make Nori feel better.
"Good afternoon. Please enjoy this; we worked our hardest..."
There's probably at least one bite for each judge? Maybe?
<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.
Fumi lands on the cake.
Despair, destruction, devastation... All of these and more are reflected in Makoto's wide and trembling eyes.
She falls to her hands and knees. She hasn't felt this way since the D&D Girls...!
Her hands curl into fists.
"We..." she growls. "We can still save it!!"
And so Makoto attempts to take the crushed angel's food cake, hurry it back to their station, and start to chop it up into bits, to make into mini-cakelets. "Senpai! I need taht whipped cream, stat!! Sucy-san! The strawberries!!"
By god she will present SOMETHING to the judges or she will DIE TRYING.
(Makoto maybe don't... think that too strongly...)
<Pose Tracker> Vita [None] has posed.
Vita, in the background behind Nori, folds her arms across her adorable bun apron and nods firmly.
"They're screwed," she declares, "But they had a good--"
Head slowly tilts as she recalls the last ninety minutes.
"They had a attitude about it."
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Sucy Manbavaran snaps out of her funk at Makoto's inspiring words and quickly retrieves the whipped cream. She's right, it's not over yet, it can be... deconstructed! or a spongey bread pudding! Angel Cake a la Maid~! She helps Makoto with the salvaging and the plating and tries to cover the mess with a disc layer of whipped cream. She layers a base color then dolloping spots on of the other flavors it so it looks like a big flat mushroom with one big cap and many stalks, She dots little upside down strawberries in places like sprouting caps.
Because she can't help herself.
She doesn't know if the judges like mushrooms as much as she does, but everyone should! And this is an emergency! She just has to go with what she knows!
Satisfied, she sneaks it over to judge's table and sets it down next to Homura's mysterious masterpiece.
<Pose Tracker> Sucy Manbavaran [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Now that she has a moment to breathe, Sucy pulls out the book she was searching through earlier again, since she recently paged through and determined where it wasn't, she was able to find it quickly, and begins to read the entry to herself:
Angel Tears: Like all ingredients from an Angel, these contain powerful benefiicial flavor sensory and sensory magic, and adds whole dimensions of flavor, smell and even song to conceal even the darkest poisons, or take a less caustic sundry to the very heights of excellence.
They enhance the flavors of the product itself, enhance its colors with splendor and emits a fait joyful song when close that becomes louder, mixing with feelings of heavenly exuberance upon ingestion."
Sucy remembers this part and is feels that she made the right call.
There's more. She continues to read:
However, because these are the Tears of an Angel, born from the depths of their emotion, there are some side effects that manifest as aftertaste. These effects are temporary and last as long as an actual aftertaste, but can be quite Significant. Moments after ingesting the potion or Sundry, whosoever is affected will be afflicted with the feelings of an Angel, This usually results feel a deep sense of Guilt and Penitence, and the feeling of being Observed by an angelic entity whose heart is heavy with Kindness, Judgement, Humility and Grief. Depending on the weight of the heart of the affected, the effect can vary between mild to quite serious though in all cases it is brief, usually fading within minutes.
Sucy's eye opens all the way for a moment. upond finishing the entry.
She looks over to the judge panel, back to the book and she feels a little bettter, though she wonders how much effect the cake's destruction will have...
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (6)] has posed.
JUDGMENT TIME
Takeo considers cake finger food.
Miki picks up a fork.
Saionji wields his chopsticks.
Touga lowers his goggles and revs a chainsaw.
---
FIVE MINUTES LATER
REEooREEooREEoo
Midori watches the ambulances depart for Mitakihara General Hospital, and her shoulders slump as one of her collegues marches over to demand she take full responsibility for this.
Even so -- she just can't resist grabbing the mic one last time.
"AND THAT'S ALL FOR THE FIRST ANNUAL CAKE WARS! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR CONTESTANTS!!"
As for the judges, it's an open question whether they were felled by the pepper, the lemon, or the guilt. They weren't prepared for any of the above...
