Have a Doggy Valentine

[puppy_lancer]

Characters: Lancer and everybody. Strings characters welcome!

Setting: February 12-14, various floors

Format: Up to you

Summary: Lancer is unaffected by the event, but he's still celebrating! Time for him to make Valentines for everyone he knows.

Warnings: Nothing so far

Floor 99

[Lancer is hacking off chunks of crystals with his spear. They give him a headache if he looks at them for too long, but they make great materials for presents. He weighs them in his hand, wondering if they'll be able to stand his methods of working them into charms or other things.]

Floor 76

[He stares at the arrangement of flowers and herbs and wonders which ones are purely medicinal. The large amount of pollen in the air makes his nose itch, and he disturbs the relative peace of the floor with several loud sneezes.]

Floor 62

[He's strolling along the beach, scooping up shells, sea stars, and pebbles washed smooth by the waves. The pockets of his suit have been stuffed full and are weighing down on his legs. His hands are being quickly filled as well. Perhaps he should have brought a bag.]

Floor 51

[He's finally sewing a bag to carry all his supplies in. Every so often, he has to stop and curse as he stings his finger with the needle. Sewing is supposed to be women's work, so he never learned it.]

Floor 15

[With his supplies gathered, Lancer is sitting in the workshop, trying to work the shells, crystals, and other things into gifts to give to the people he knows. He's rather caught up in his work, so it would be easy for someone to sneak up on him.]

Floor 60 (14th only)

[Given the recent influx of people and the fact that so many food gifts were being given, the kitchens were rather busy. This is why Lancer only comes into the kitchen relatively late into the day. Right now, he's scratching his head at some of the recipes, trying to pick out the ingredients he needs from the huge stockpile of food that Kasumi had brought up to this floor.]

Floor 58

[Lancer has quite a big sack thrown over his shoulder. He's currently stuffing presents into the mail boxes of everyone whose names he knows.]

Room 01-01

[Catarina was one of those who didn't have a mailbox, so Lancer just knocks on her door and places his (awkward shaped) chocolates by her door along with a note.]

Happy Valentine's Day. Got you chocolate. We need to talk, though.

Room 01-09

[Saber's chocolate too is left by her door alongside a note.]

Happy Valentine's Day. I hope these taste good.

Room 02-17

[Ayaka's gift is a bag of cookies (again misshapen because Lancer couldn't use a mold properly) and a crystal charm carved with runes that spelled out a blessing of good fortune. Again, he's written a note.]

Happy Valentine's Day. Sorry Saber couldn't get his ass over here. Ah well. Guess I'm giving you presents on his behalf too.

Comments

Re: Floor 60

[fusedstars]

Use all purpose. Whole wheat will make the baked goods heavier and harder to eat.

sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

[He nods.]

Then, all purpose-flour and white sugar for these cookies.

[He scratches his head again.]

Any particular order for these things?

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

It'd probably be easier if I just show you. I find teaching works better with demonstrations.

[So don't mind Hei taking over a bit, grabbing the flour and sugar, as well as another bowl and his own baking materials.]

Just observe and do everything I do. It might take a bit, but it is simple to learn.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

Sounds good.

[Lancer learned better through demonstration than instruction anyways.]

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Alright, what you want to do is...

[And Hei proceeds to demonstrate while droning out information, careful not to let anything spill and mix it with the utmost of ease.]

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer imitates him, and when he finishes up, he stares at the cookies on the sheet.]

All that's left is to pop them in the oven, right? Or is this recipe missing something?

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Depends. Was there anything else you wanted to add onto the cookies? Otherwise, it will be too late to add anything else once it's in the oven and outside.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

I think sugar cookies will be fine.

[Anything fancier is probably asking for a mess.]

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Then this should do just fine.

[And off they go into the oven.]

Now we just wait and check every few minutes or so. Best to do this since you are learning.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

Sure. But since it takes a long time, I guess I'll just make the chocolate while I'm waiting?

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Yes, but just be mindful of the cookies in the oven. Accidents do happen sometimes.

[That, and they were in the tower of hell. For all Hei knew, the oven would suddenly spawn Heartless and a baby Deathclaw, with a bomb.]

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

You say that like I don't know how to use an oven.

[He's pretty sure no monsters ever popped out of the oven before.

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

I saw that because of the tower.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

Haven't seen any monsters here yet. People would've set up warnings for this sort of thing a long time ago. We all come get our food here, after all.

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

True, but an enemy always likes to strike when you least expect. That, and I do recall one person trying to cook one of those shadows. Or at least I think he was trying to. I believe they were called Heartless?

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

...What the fuck?

[Oh well, not like he hasn't contemplated roasting up the monsters. But doing it in this kitchen...]

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

[No shame in that Lancer. Hei thought of the same thing, until he saw what some were made of.]

Not the best of days.

Now then, let's get started on the chocolate.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

[He picks up the can of cocoa power.]

Okay...why do we need to use cocoa butter and cocoa powder at the same time? Aren't they both chocolate?

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Cocoa powder is only useful for chocolate beverages without the butter, like hot chocolate. Technically, we can use normal butter, but if prepared the right way, cocoa butter can be quite useful in giving a softer and better taste quality.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

That's something else I didn't know.

[He picks up the cocoa butter.]

So wait, how do you get milk to make butter from beans?

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

The beans are heated, opened up, then ground into liquid form using a grinder. Finally, it just needs to be extracted using a screw press or other items.

That's the brief summary anyway.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

Sounds complicated.

[No wonder they didn't have chocolate in his time.]

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Luckily we don't have to do that step.

Re: sorry for late

[puppy_lancer]

So...just mix all of these, right?

[He starts scooping the ingredients into one big bowl.]

Re: sorry for late

[fusedstars]

Yes. And just keep doing that until it resembles more like chocolate. Just be careful not to go overboard with the ingredients.