(no subject)

[allisnothing]

Who: Haruka+Anyone (feel free to jump in and make subthreads across time and space!)
Where: Home Ec Room+Near Entrace
When: Wed April 19th (after school) and Saturday April 22nd (during lunch)
What: Drama Club spreads sugary goodness

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'DRAMA CLUB PRACTICES ARE SUSPENDED THIS WEEK FOR FUNDING SCHEMES AND BEGGARY' read the notice on the drama room door.

Instead, the members of the drama club were prepping for the bake sale planned for Saturday. After some wheedling with the Home Ec club for permission to use the room and even more wheedling to be allowed to put up ads and set up a table during lunch, things were well underway.

A few club members had already finished their contributions and were gone, leaving a boy who had to start over when he burned his batch (the smell wafting outside the open door), two girl who were spending more time talking than doing work, and Haruka. Haruka had her tablet on the counter, settled on a recipe for caramel chocolate cake, while she worked, taking her time as she went through each step. The kitchen station she was at was fairly standard so she didn't have much problem navigating but it was nice to not have to maneuver around people or fight for space anymore.

Comments

Wednesday

[allisnothing]

[See main post]

Re: Wednesday

[fassade]

While she was on her way to the home ec room anyway (she tended to spend some time there making various things anyway), the smell of something burning quickened her step. It was easy to burn things when baking, she assumed someone was baking because that was what the burning smelled like. Perhaps burnt cookies? The German's steps slowed as she neared the door, however. This meant that there were people in the Home Ec room. She didn't like people. Especially people in this school. Chloe faltered. Was it worth taking a peek inside...?

Her curiosity finally got the best of her, and the blonde haired blue eyed foreigner leaned in through the door to take a peek at just what was going on in the Home Ec room.

Re: Wednesday

[allisnothing]

Haruka's head perked up as she heard one of the girls break their conversation to ask her friend in a low voice, "What's the tall foreigner doing here?"

She tilted her head slightly. Putting down a bowl of shifted flour, she walked over to the door and asked,

"Abendorofu-san?"

Re: Wednesday

[fassade]

Low voices didn't mean anything when the room was near silent and she could hear her anyway. Well... that answered her question; it HADN'T been worth it to peek in. The tall girl's gaze hardened and she was about to turn and leave when she heard a familiar voice calling to her in her mangled name. She turned back to see it was Haruka, who had even made her way to the front of the room. Chloe awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Shikata-san."

Re: Wednesday

[allisnothing]

"Hi." Haruka smiled at the confirmation. There was probably as many foreigners as people like Haruka on campus. "Need to use home ec too?"

The two girls promptly went back to whispering among themselves. One giggled at a particular comment, high pitched and a gasped, 'That's mean!'.

Re: Wednesday

[fassade]

Chloe's cold, icy gaze turned to stare in a deadpan way at the two girls who had been giggling. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to. The whole 'that's mean!' comment gave her a good idea of what was going on. If these girls gave Haruka a hard time later just because she had talked to the 'gaijin'.... the German's eyes narrowed only slightly as she stared at the two whispering girls, the light blue depths of them almost seeming to glint dangerously. She then turned back to Haruka.

"Good afternoon." She paused at the next question, tilting her head slightly. Did she NEED to use the Home Ec room? No, not really. It was more of a hobby than anything. "No, not a need."

Re: Wednesday

[allisnothing]

The two girls went quiet for a moment. Haruka tilted her head slightly. Longest since she'd heard from them so far.

"Not a need, huh." Beat. "Did you want to? Kitchen four's open."

Re: Wednesday

[fassade]

As they went silent, Chloe couldn't help the small bit of smugness that she felt in her chest, even if not a trace of it ended up on her expression. Looking around the room, she confirmed that what Haruka had said was true; kitchen four was indeed open. She was silent for a few moments, wondering how she should proceed. On one hand, she would like to make something, and Haruka wasn't a bad person to be around. On the other hand, they were not the only ones here and she was positive those girls wouldn't stay quiet for long....

"...Alright."

Well, that answered that. She didn't even know what she was making yet, but she was sure she'd think of something. The German tilted her head towards what Haruka had been concocting earlier; from the conjunction of ingredients she saw, she could only guess what she was making.

"... making a cake?"

Re: Wednesday

[allisnothing]

"Yep. Caramel chocolate," Haruka replied. She started walking back to her kitchen, number three. "Our drama club overlord decreed that we'd have a bake sale on Saturday so today's been prep."

Turning her head back to Abendroth, "Any idea what you want to make?"

Re: Wednesday

[fassade]

Caramel Chocolate? Anyone with a sweet tooth would drool at the prospect of it. If Chloe had less control than she did, she might have as well. It was a good choice, that was for sure. If this bake sale was going to raise any money, the cake might take centre stage in that regard. She nodded her agreement even if Haruka couldn't see it before moving towards Kitchen No. 4. At the question, she tilted her head in thought for a moment. The smell of burnt cookies returned with a vengeance, and it took only another second to make up her mind.

"Cookies."

Re: Wednesday

[allisnothing]

"Cool," Haruka replied with a nod. The boy further down in kitchen one looked over his batch of burnt cookies and went back to his new batch with renewed effort. "What type?"

She touched her braille display and re-read the next steps before she started pouring in other ingredients in with the flour. The remaining ingredients had been meticulously placed in a preset order.

Re: Wednesday

[fassade]

"Honey cookies."

Came her reply as she quickly slipped on a plain white apron before moving to get the ingredients ready. Sugar, shortening, honey, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, flour, and ginger... yes, everything seemed to be here. The German got to work melting together the sugar, honey, and shortening in a saucepan before peeking over to the boy who had started up making cookies again. Well... he was determined at least, and that was a good trait for anyone who wanted to cook or bake.

Re: Wednesday

[rulebook]

Drawn by the scent of burning pastries, Ryuta marched down the hallway to the Home EC classroom. As he drew closer, he wondered to himself how to best deal with the situation. But as he walked in through the door, he noticed both Haruka and the German student he heard about. A very.... unique combination.

Saturday

[allisnothing]

They had a table set up near the cafeteria during lunch with everything from pieces of cake to cookies to cake-pops to yogurt parfaits.

A big poster with anime-stylized Shakespeare and Greek and other dramatic figures interacting while holding sweets was hung on the table, reading:

'DONATION BASED BAKE SALE! PAY AS YOU FEEL IS WORTH. PLEASE SUPPORT THE EFFORTS OF THE POOR, STARVING ARTISTS KNOWN AS THE DRAMA CLUB.'

Haruka sat at the far end of the table. She had a few containers in front of her all labeled neatly in glitter pen: 'CARAMEL CHOCOLATE CAKE', 'DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES', and 'GREEN TEA POCKY'.

Re: Saturday

[burningbow]

Mirai was standing before the counter looking fascinated and useless. By now he was rather regretting spending his allowance so fast, and he was going to pester him for some later.

"How much?" he asked, making his presence known. "Strange that you should offer so much yet no discounts for your friends, Kiri-chan?"

Re: Saturday

[allisnothing]

Haruka's head perked up as she recognized the voice.

"Oh, hey. I think the sign explains some of that?" She lightly tapped on it and - either through luck or excellent memory - touched the section that said 'PAY AS YOU FEEL IS WORTH'. She tilted her head slightly. "Not even 100 yen to spare for poor starving artists?"

Re: Saturday

[burningbow]

It was fortunate that the girl selling such things was blind. Mirai reached out and stayed quiet. Then he took only one cake, which tasted delicious when he took a bite of it and could taste the bits of icing melting on his tongue.

"One hundred?" Chomp. "You sound like you're going to take everyone for a ride, Kiri-chan," he said between mouthfuls. "That's not nice."

Re: Saturday

[allisnothing]

Haruka heard the chewing and let it pass. She adjusted how she was sitting, her cane within prodding distance but she still sounded the same,

"Think people can take themselves for a ride without me?" She shrugged a little. "Star Ducks asks 350 to 400 yen for baked goodies that have been lying around in a box for about a week and longer in some warehouse and all fees go to feed the capitalist pig-dog machine. We ask for just what you can pay and it goes for a good cause."

Re: Saturday

[burningbow]

"... Yeah. I guess that's true."

SNAP! He ended his words by biting his way through a pocky stick. The good causes he cared about were those where he could get something out of it. Like free food.

Re: Saturday

[allisnothing]

She heard the audible crunch of pocky. She replied, as though nothing had happened,

"Plus, shouldn't you be supporting your friends' efforts? All those hours spent slaving away in the kitchen. Fighting off rivals for space. Braving the cold to ensure the caramel is perfect."

She swung her foot, readjusting in her seat again, and it pushed her cane out from under the table into his leg with a pointed prod.

Re: Saturday

[phantomcloud]

Just then, Miyume approached the table from the direction of the cafeteria. She carried two school-made box lunches, one for her and one for Haruka. To Haruka's ears, her walk sounded somewhat better than it had on Wednesday but it still wasn't normal for her. When she spotted Mirai, her whole face brightened on reflex as she graced him with a radiant smile. Then she remembered where they were and her expression became a bit more subdued but the delight in her eyes was unmistakable.

"Hello, Mirai-kun," she greeted then turned her attention to Haruka. "Sorry about the wait. The line was longer than I expected. Here's your lunch."

She sat the bento in Haruka's lap then took her own seat beside her.

Re: Saturday

[burningbow]

Mirai's lips pursed. He was standing before the counter, hovering over it as he pushed his hair away from his face. They sprang out annoyingly from behind his ear - which made him even more annoyed, and so to calm down he began twirling it around his right finger. Half a pocky stick was held like a vintage ladies' pipe; balanced between his left thumb and forefinger.

If Miyume was quick enough, she would have seen a rather mischievous smile on his face. Then he was smiling at her. He was taking one of the cakes from the stall - without permission - and handing it over.

"I come bearing gifts."

Re: Saturday

[suiseimushi]

"Oh, Shikata-san, right? Wow, it looks like you all did a lot of work on these."

Kisa, meanwhile, had a 1000-yen bill to offer for the short stack of cookies she picked up. It was a good cause, she figured, and everything did look quite tasty. Plus she didn't have a lot of expenditures these days.

"I hope it's paying off for you."

Re: Saturday

[phantomcloud]

Well, this was awkward. Mirai had stolen a cake she'd contributed to the bake sale to give to her and the nice senpai Miyume found herself not wanting to disappoint had shown up to buy cookies. And she hadn't even opened her bento yet.

Also, Miyume's ability to speak or even think at all had seemed to vanish entirely. She sat there, completely frozen, not even blinking.

Re: Saturday

[allisnothing]

Haruka tilted her head in Hazama's direction for a moment, listening to the sudden stillness before saying with a smile, "Thanks for grabbing lunch. Should go great with the cake?"

Turning her head towards the new female voice, she looked bemused. However, she replied easily, "Yep. Hours in the kitchen, fighting the home ec hordes, braving the cold for the perfect caramel base. Think they turned out alright? Too bad, it's apparently not even worth 100 yen or even 50 yen for a sweet or three." She feigned a sniffle.

And then she subtly adjusted her leg again. Her cane prodded Imaizumi again.