1492/The Secret Ingredient Is...

The Secret Ingredient Is...
Date of Scene:	04 February 2015
Location:	Heaven or Hell Tower <HoH>
Synopsis:	Riva, Ainsley, and Ayako work together to make a metric ton of homemade chocolate. Special ingredients are added to a bunch of them, including...
Cast of Characters:	151, Riva Banari, Ayako Hasekawa

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Riva Banari has posed:
WELCOME TO THE KITCHEN OF HISTORY.

Well, it might be history in some manner or another. The question is what the books will say about Riva's well-meaning assistance when she offered to give Ayako a hand in cooking up some homemade chocolate for gifts!

The mini-kitchen is stocked, now. Butter, powdered milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and a few other odds and ends sit to one side, as well as a couple pans and a /bunch/ of cute-looking molds for them to pour the finished product within!

Riva, having dots in Google-Fu, has her phone hanging off of one of the cabinet doors with a recipe displayed. "ALL RIGHT!" She crows, holding up her hands exuberantly. "Are you ready for some INTENSE CHOCOLATE MAKING, Ayako? This is going to be /awesome/!"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako is dressed in her usual maid outfit and is of course standing next to Riva. Her amber eyes glance over to Riva's smart phone and look the recipe over. "A-ahh... well..." One of her pointer fingers scratches at her cheek softly as she glances off to the side. "I... I don't know if chocolate making is supposed to be... 'INTENSE'." Her hands go back down to be folded modestly on her maid outfit's apron as she inclines her head to the side slightly and smiles brightly. "But then, I've never made chocolate successfully before, so what do I know?"

    Oh boy. Yeah. This little event is definitely going into the history books in some way!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    It may seem like Ainsley has showed up late, maybe slightly, because it might seem like it took her a while to get to where the two other girls are making candy. But she was there outside the door, nervously trying to fix her composure and working on mental exercises to maintain a mellow, cheerful demeanor when she does not feel at all cheerful these days.

    The lizard girl wanders into Riva's home after this, stepping through-- avoiding the television, which displays odd colors because of her magical aura being electrically-based, thankfully it doesn't permanently do harm to it --and stopping by the threshold leading to the kitchen. She visibly has to fight the urge to hide behind one of the sides of the doorway, stepping into the room.

    The awkward lizard smiles at Ayako and Riva.

    Aaand blushes.

    "Uhm... candy?" she tries to say excitedly, and fails.

Riva Banari has posed:
When Ainsley arrives, Riva immediatley engulfs her in a big hug. "Ainsley!" She says, hugging the scaly friend. "It so good to see you! Mmm, did I ever mention I love your scales? And that feather-dress, it's maaaaaaaaahvelous." She says, winking with a self-mocknig grin as she pulls away. "Come on, there's..." She pauses. "Room! Yes. Room."

She tilts her head at Ayako. "Don't worry about it! We can follow recipes! You're good with measuring, right? I'll let you work on measuring out the ingredients according to what's on the list. We can just keep things prepared and make the chocolate in little batches, then clean up and get ready for the next one."

She gestures to a BIG BAG. "I picked up a few things we can try adding to the chocolate too, while we're at it. Ainsley and I can work on going through them. There's a bunch of nuts, some fruit, coconut, and um... In the fridge there's a couple bottles of healing water." She looks to Ainsley, "So Ains, go ahead and put together some add-ins while I get this started. Ayako, you start measuring and we'll make this awesome!"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly when Riva quickly moves to give Ainsley a big hug! Riva can be surprisingly fast at the oddest times! She smiles softly and waves hello cheerfully to Ainsley. "Hello Ainsley! Interested in chocolate making as well?" Her head inclines in the other direction as she smiles cheerfully.

    Ayako's amber gaze turns back to Riva... and then abruptly moves down and to the side. "A-auumm..." She whimpers softly. "I... I'm not good at anything related to cooking. Even when I measure ingredients... things happen." Her pointer fingers push together at the tips. "Cleaning is pretty much all I'm good at that's related to cooking..."

    She shakes her head quickly. "Umm... I'll try to demonstrate... by measuring one thing..." Ayako looks over the recipe on the phone... and then walks to the refrigerator to get some milk. She takes out a measuring cup and carefully pours 4 ounces of milk as indicated by the recipe. As she takes the carton of milk back to the refrigerator... something... odd happens. Rather, the amount of milk in the cup somehow drains down to 2 ounces. Strange!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley freezes and needs to take a second to accept and reciprocate the hug, because it caught her off-guard. She seems to relax some afterward, the cheerful words of her friend getting her smile to be more genuine, warmer, but still mellow. It's easy to tell it's genuine when she sticks her tongue out slightly and her tail wiggles behind her. Her feathers even puff up a little!

    She waves at Ayako, distractedly turning her bright blue eyes toward all of the add-ins for the chocolate. She steps up to it, considering. "Doooo you know anyone who likes crickets?" she wonders at them, as she digs through the bag and finds some of the nuts that are in there. She reads whatever packaging they're in, making sure she knows what she's looking at. She takes stock of everything meticulously.

    She turns her head distractedly to look at the amount of milk measured into the measuring cup. She squints at the cup.

    And then goes back to what she's doing. "Coconut's nice," she muses aloud.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva blinks as she sees what happens when Ayako measures some milk. "Huh. Are you... taking the water out of the milk instinctively?" She says, tilting her head. "... That's actually pretty neat. There's some recipes that could be improved with that, you know! But this one..." She taps the side of her head. "It's mostly dry goods, but even dry goods tend to have a /little/ water in them. So I guess we'll just do what we can! I'll measure stuff out and get this going!" She plops some butter into the pan, and turns it on low heat. "And besides, it's going to get hot around her anyway and there's no sense making you suffer around the stove, Ayako." She starts melting the butter over low heat and measuring out the dry goods.

"We can try crickets in one batch. I'm sure it'll be fine. I didn't, um, buy any though. Coconut is great though!"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako watches Ainsley rummage around in the add-in baggie, curious as to what sort of thing she's looking for. She blinks her eyes quickly. "C-crickets? That's not usually what you add into chocolate is it?" She giggles softly.

    And then shrugs helplessly when Riva asks her about the milk. "I... I don't know. All I know is that if I'm paying attention to cooking, strange things happen." Ayako smiles a bit awkwardly as she steps off to the side. Yes, she's careful not to watch Riva cook, lest she mess that up too! She nods her head quickly. "Un! I don't care much for the stove either!"

    Ayako then takes another look at the recipe... and then grabs the measuring cup with the milk in it and gulps it down. She then walks to the refrigerator again and takes the carton of milk out. Another few gulps of milk from the carton later, she places the carton back. After a moment, she walks back to Riva and powdered milk comes from her fingers and is placed into another cup for dry ingredients.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The lizard girl looks up from what she's doing, momentarily surprised because she wasn't expecting Riva to just roll with it like that. And then Ayako has a more expected reaction, which Ainsley nods at slowly. "Yes," she replies, easily enough, "I did bring some. A personal snack." She pauses a beat. "I hope it doesn't unsettle either of you. I just rarely get to eat chocolate-covered crickets."

    She smiles in an apologetic way, and begins putting together her add-in ingredients, though she finds what Ayako is doing to be incredibly distracting, the lizard girl tilting her head ponderously at the water girl's activities over there. She's going to the trouble of preparing ingredients in little bowls so that they're ready for adding into the chocolate.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva fiddles with the ingredients on the counter, and begins adding them to the melting butter, using it to fold into the melted mass. "Some people think having crickets or grasshoppers are interesting." She says, not apparently weighing in one way or the other. Riva does, however, giggle when she sees the powdered milk get added by Ayako. "See! I knew you could help!" It saves /her/ time.

She does turn to Ainsley, and nods. "It's no big deal, Ains, we can make you some if you have any crickets handy." Riva seems to be completely fine with that. She does reach over, taking a bottle of Healing Water out of the fridge and swishing it speculatively, popping the top off and pouring some into the chocolate mix. It softens up a bit, and Riva turns to grab the first bowl of add-ins from Ainsley and pours it in without even looking at it at first. It looks like she trusts ainsley's taste preferences!

She whistles pleasantly as she begins folding it all together into an evenly distributed mass. "Can someone get one of the pans, please? It's almost time to pour the first batch~" She hums pleasantly.

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes quickly. "A-ahh... chocolate covered crickets..." She smiles at Ainsley and shakes her head slowly as she backs away from the stove's heat. "I've heard of them, but... well..." She giggles softly. "I don't exactly eat, so... and most people I've met edge away from eating insects."

    She does blink her eyes quickly when Riva takes some Healing Water out of the fridge, though. "Huh? Riva? Are you trying to make Healing Chocolate?" Ayako giggles brightly. When Riva calls for a pan, though... she seems awkard. The heat of the stove is making her a bit uncomfortable this far away. To bring Riva a pan might be a bit much for her right now!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley squeaks when one of the bowls is grabbed, the strangest and very reptillian noise... almost like a chirp. She cranes her head to get a look at what Riva is doing, her mouth falling open slightly and her eyes widened with a glowing curiosity, or even anticipation. This is especially silly because she ends up hovering off the floor a bit, her hands clutched to her chest.

    She lands and looks at Ayako, continuing the exchange about the crickets. "A-ah... yes. I have a preference for some kinds of insects, and I do know it makes some people uncomfortable, so I don't eat them around most people," she admits to Ayako.

    "Oh!" she realizes that Ayako can't even approach the stove, so she retrieves one of the pans for Riva, helpfully setting it where it'll be needed. "Here~"

Riva Banari has posed:
"Why not, Ayako? Think about it! Now we can make cany that's /healthy/ to eat! Hahahaha!" Riva seems to be getting into this, but then, she basically throws herself into almost everything she does.

She takes the pan, and removes the chocolate from heat, pouring it into the heart-shaped pan molds. "Now you can get your hearts back while eating hearts~" Riva giggles, not just at her silliness but also the look of Ainsley making that expression, and then sets it aside. "Once it's cooled to room temprature, go ahead and put it in the fridge." She says, then sets the cooking pan aside and gets another one. "Time for the next baaaatch!" She calls out, and starts the process again from the top. "I've never tried chocolate covered insects, but hey, I'll try anything once, right?"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako giggles softly, "Well, it doesn't make me uncomfortable, Ainsley!" and then whews softly when Ainsley delivers the pan to Riva. "Thank you, Ainsley. That type of heat... well... I don't like it much." She smiles a bit sheepishly.

    "U-un. Healing Candy... huh?" Ayako closes her eyes as she thinks that over and then slowly opens them while nodding once. "Although when you're hurt... eating is kind of the last thing on your mind usually..." She giggles softly. "But I guess it could work."

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley looks at Riva with complete bewilderment when a reference is made to a videogame mechanic. It looks like she's trying to remember where that's even from. But she shrugs it off, because she does understand what it means, at least. She gets another pan out for the next batch, humming a little song as she does so. "Healing chocolate! It sounds like it might be nice to have, on adventures."

    Or whenever she wants to eat chocolate, she thinks, a big thoughtful smile on her face while she ponders this.

    She pulls a helpful little sandwich baggy of crickets -- not live ones! -- out of her pocket. They're bright red. She pours them into another bowl, the little crickets being pretty small, so they won't be difficult to mix into a batch of chocolate.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva seems to have no problems with prepping another chocolate batch for DELICIOUS CRICKETS. Pondering for a moment, Riva points at another pan, this one for small bon-bon shaped chocolates. "Put one cricket into each of those, okay Ainsley?"

As she works, Riva asides to Ayako, "You know, I was thinking... Maybe I should get an aquarium. They're pretty, and fish are fun. What do you think, Ayako?"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako blinks her eyes at how... red those crickets are. That's not usually a color you see edible insects having! Oh well. It's not like she eats insects anyway. And... that pan choice! Cricket bon-bons? Ayako giggles softly at the thought.

    "Oohh. An aquarium, huh?" Ayako smiles gently. "Well, I could keep it clean... and maybe rest in there instead of the sink." She giggles brightly. "Any sort of fish you had in mind?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley helpfully gathers up the right pan, and individually places each cricket with care and precision, smiling at the fact that she doesn't have to be awkward about her eating preferences around her friends. Her tail resumes wiggling behind her, yet she's pretty careful not to actually smack Riva or Ayako with it. It might be distracting to have the feathered tuft at the end swish by either of their faces, though.

    "Betas are pretty," she offers, "Vicious, but pretty!"

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva giggles as the feathered tail swishes past her face. "Oh god, that tickles." She says, almost doubling over. Everything remains okay though, and Riva adds some more Healing Water to the batch, humming. Once ready, she pours into each of the little indentations, covering the crickets with delicious homemade chocolate. It'll be a thing!

"Well, I'm not sure which fish to get. Are there any you particularly like?" Riva asks Ayako. "There's a lot of other choices too! And we can decorate it for you too! It'll be amazing! "

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako giggles brightly and wiggles away from the feathered tail. Seems she's ticklish-even moreso than Riva. "Tail, tail, taaaiiil!" She sheds a few drops of water as she gets away from the tail.

    "Hmm... I like all sorts of fish, really!" Ayako smiles softly as she smooths the water drops back into her maid outfit. "Oh, you're going to decorate it too?" She giggles brightly.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley reaches to try to manage her tail, the long scaly appendage held up to her chest so that she doesn't bother Riva at the very least. Though she looks at Ayako thoughtfully while the two of them are talking. Then she lets go of her tail...

    And while the two are busy talking, she tries to tickle Ayako a little more, showing blatant mischief on her face. She does wait for an opening in their conversation first.

Riva Banari has posed:
"Of course!" Riva says, making some more chocolate after that one's done. She seems to basically roll on automatic, almost absently tweaking the recipe as she goes. Each batch gets some Healing Water, and Riva starts diversifying on what colors go into them. She doesn't seem to be paying all that much attention to what goes where at this point as things move on.

"Do you know how to talk to fish? Do they say anything, I wonder?" She says, pouring in some more Healing Water into the mix. She waits as she watches Ayako giggle from the tickling, and she smirks herself. "Man, you guys..." She shakes her head. "And of course I'm going to decorate it! You and the fish should be able to have a nice place to live, after all!"

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Uh oh. Ainsley's tail is going after her! Ayako can't do anything to defend herself from that feathered tail! She wiggles and tries to get away from it, giggling brightly. It seems she really is super ticklish. She's giggling so much that-

    A sound of something wet, yet solid can be heard. Those who look would see that Ayako's left arm just fell off onto the floor. Her amber eyes quickly move towards her dropped arm and she giggles even brighter. "S-sorry! Sometimes, when I giggle too much, this happens." Ayako bends down and picks up her dropped arm and reattaches it. Any water that is on the floor is quickly reabsorbed into her shoes.

    And her eyes blink quickly when Riva asks if she can talk to fish. "I... talk to fish?" Ayako inclines her head to the side gently. "I'm afraid I can't talk to fish." She starts to think about aquarium decorations... and- "Well... as long as you don't get too carried away with the decorations." Although, this is Riva she's talking about! Of course she's going to get carried away!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley stops tickling Ayako immediately after she sees an arm falling off. Ordinarily, that would've been INCREDIBLY traumatizing, but the shock fades when she realizes that the person in front of her can just put herself back together again. The lizard girl smiles this big and wary smile when the water girl apologizes to /her/ after that, too, visibly disagreeing with the notion that the apology was needed at all. She even waves it off with one hand.

    "Ooh, get one of those little treasure chests," she suggests to Riva, after a second to get her wits back, making a little 'lid opening and closing' motion with her hands to demonstrate what she means. "I saw that in a movie once. They look really neat."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva stops giggling, and yelps when he sees the arm fall off. "Oh goodness!" She says, in surprise... But it's Ayako, she's clearly fine! "It's okay, everything's fine." She sighs for a moment. "Hrm. Well, that's too bad." She replies regarding the fish speaking. "I admit the idea of you chatting with fish would be hilarious."

Ainsley suggests a treasure chest. "Those are neat! But They need air bubbles to work and I don't think that's the best idea for an aquarium Ayako will be resting in." Riva points out. More pans are filled with delicious homemade melted chocolate (made with assorted colors of Healing Water), and finally, Riva is left squinting at the final batch. And at like six open containers of different-colored healing water.

She sighs, shrugs, and just empties them all into the pan and gets mixing. "Aaanyway, we'll definately need lots of decorations. I'll go pick some up when I figure out what I'm doing with the aquarium."

Ayako Hasekawa has posed:
    Ayako waves her hands frantically. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Don't worry about it!" She smiles cheerfully and then sticks her tongue out playfully. "Besides, most fish don't have anything interesting to say."

    She claps her hands together softly when the treasure chest is brought up. "Oh... one of those! Those are cute." Ayako shakes her head slowly. "Oh, but don't worry about the air bubbles. I don't mind them. Besides! You need to keep the water oxygenated or the fish will drown!" She smiles cheerfully... and then blinks her eyes quickly when Riva just empties all of the containers into the pan. "I... Uhh... no... nothing." Ayako just shakes her head slowly.

    "Oh, but I'm sort of looking forward to the aquarium now!"

Riva Banari has posed:
"Ah ah ah! Then you /do/ talk to them! I knew it!" Riva claps her hands, and looks over the mass of bubbling, heavily dosed chocolate. "This is going to totally be amazing." She says, brightly, and pours it out into a solid block pan. "I'll have to mark this one for later." She says.

All the chocolate gets loaded into the fridge to cool, set, and then later on, get packaged and decorated however they want! "I think by the time we're done, everyone's going to remember this stuff." She says brightly.

And not ominously at all.