04 - [Action/Open]

[iamthatis]

[While he had been training more extensively with Martin and expanding his own horizons outside of Union, Matthias was still undoubtedly a member of the Swords, and that meant that while he had time away from other things, he had those responsibilities to tend to. To that end, he found himself out this early evening on a patrol with Basil, walking through the winding city to make sure that things stayed as calm as they felt at the moment. The sun hadn't quite come down from the sky yet and bathed the streets in a gentle orange light, but the chill of night had started to set in; thankfully the heat of the day made any breeze that happened to pass by pleasantly warm.

An hour into his patrol left Matthias with not much in the way to do however; nothing broke the calm, everyone seemed perfectly content to move about their day without incident, and everything seemed rather quiet, quiet enough to let the young man slip into thought about things. His time with Martin had been more productive than he could have ever imagined, first off; every lesson he stepped out of was one with less bruises, more confidence, and a better grasp of his skills, it was more than enough to make him feel better about himself than he had in a long time. He also thought of Yuuna, and her offers to train him in hand to hand combat...it was an exciting prospect to say the least, but one he would have to work up towards. Swords and staffs he was used to...his own hands however had only ever been used for cooking and tending to gardens and Pokemon.

Speaking of cooking, he'd recently taken up the task of learning how to bake. He'd wanted to learn ever since he'd gotten the idea to make small cakes for the people he'd worked with during their raid on Sanctuary; he'd never had a thought to learn until then, but now was the perfect excuse to try. His first few attempts...had been less than stellar, and he'd had Martin come over a few times to make sure he wasn't burning the spare house down. He'd wised up after the third failed attempt and sought out help from a local baker nearby Martin's house, a kindly older woman who'd been delighted to teach Matthias the ins and outs of the noble art! As he pulled a few snack cakes from his pouch and handed one off to Basil, he mused that he'd been making good strides.]

What do you say, Basil? A short break before we get back to things?

[Basil nodded and hopped over to a nearby bench so he could begin eating his cake with gusto with Matthias arriving shortly after. He might as well take advantage of his lull, things usually livened up around the time the Taverns started opening their doors anyways. And for once? He was actually hoping he might fall in to a conversation or two; he'd been so busy with things lately that he'd enjoy some extra company]

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[miracle_miko]

[ Evenings were the best times for shopping. The various stores always did their specials at that time, so Sanae was able to restock the theater's kitchen well under budget. Carrying a few parcels in her arms, followed by Moriya the Poliwrath (whose arms were also quite full), the shrine maiden hummed a little tune to herself--a song from a previous production, perhaps.

She noticed Basil first (lopunnies weren't too terribly common around town), hearing a familiar voice. ]

Matthias? Basil? Hi!

[iamthatis]

[Hey, he knew that voice! Basil was the first to hop to action, as was per the usual, bounding up out of his seat and landing in spectacular fashion with a bow. Matthias took his time getting up, but he was happy all the same to give a wave to his friend.]

Oh, Miss Sanae, hello! Just finishing up some shopping for the evening I take it?

[miracle_miko]

Yup! Our theater family is getting a lot bigger lately, so we have more mouths to feed.

[ She hugs her bags a bit, beaming at that fact. She really did like her new Union family. ]

What about you? What do you have there?

[iamthatis]

Oh...this?

[Matthias held up his snack cake, laughing a bit that he'd forgotten he was even holding it.]

I've been learning how to bake, actually, this is just one of my more recent attempts. It's nothing terribly complex, just some baked oats, almonds, and honey. The vanilla topping with cinnamon was Basil's idea.

[True to form, Basil stood tall and beamed happily. It was the best of ideas, naturally.]

I have a few more, if you and your friend would like to try some.

[miracle_miko]

You are? That's great! Baking can be a lot of fun.

[ Sanae blinks a few times. ]

But I don't have anything to give to you.

[iamthatis]

Hmm...you can give me your opinion then! I'm still learning, so the critique would be much appreciated.

[Honestly, the more he got his food out there, the better he'd know how he did. Sure he and Basil liked them...but in the grand scheme of things, that only meant so much. So he reached into his pack and pulled out two more, neatly wrapped to avoid getting icing all over his pack, and held them out.]

[miracle_miko]

If you're sure that's enough...

[ Juggling her parcels a bit, she tries to take the cake, before Moriya taps the young priestess on her shoulder. The Poliwrath sets his things down, gesturing that she could do the same. ]

Oh.

[ Right, she could do that! Setting her bags down, she takes the pastry gratefully, unwrapping it and taking a look. ]

Hmm...

[iamthatis]

[It seemed innocuous enough in her hands. A simple square of granola and chopped almonds really with a white topping and some cinnamon sprinkled atop it. A squeeze would show that while firm, it still had some give to it and that the honey had caramelized enough that it was only slightly sticky. All things considered, it seemed a good effort; all that was left was to give it a taste.]

[miracle_miko]

[ Sanae takes a bite of the granola cake. ]

[iamthatis]

[Mostly it was sweet, though the types of sweet seemed to layer themselves rather than competing for the spotlight; the vanilla was light and smooth across the tastebuds, complimenting the slight spice of the cinnamon mixed in with it, and the honey helped to level out the savoriness of the almonds and oats instead of outright overpowering them. There was a slight twinge of bitterness from some of the granola on the bottom that had been burnt a bit, but it was nothing that ultimately got in the way of the taste.

The honey itself though made chewing a little difficult, giving each bite a tendency to stick to the roof of the mouth every now and again, but upon each occurrence any stuck piece was easily removed by a few more moves of the mouth. All in all, a decent effort for a first successful batch.]