Wasserweber

[Rorick Skyve†]

((Maxim Kehlenbrink continued from The Dynamo Of Volition))

Life was all about choices . Simple enough phrase, probably printed on the back of God-knows-how many greeting cards, in some variation or another. Maxim had forgotten what exactly had lead to him taking this specific train of thought, maybe it was a thing from that novel he had started reading a while ago, a quote or something like that. Been too long for him to remember, he hadn't touched the book in a week or so, didn't really get into it all that much. Made him feel sort of bad, since it had been a gift by his godmother, but what the heck, he'd just pretend having read it.

Speaking of choices though, he was at least certain to have made the right one this time around. It had been either accepting Cristo's request of him joining him to help with Abby's planned bake sale, or spending another Friday evening home alone in front of his PC, playing through Baldur's Gate for the fourth time - which had actually been a harder choice for him to make than one might expect. Only after Cristo had ensured him that it would only be the two of them plus Abby and absolutely no one else, he had finally agreed. Kind of pathetic, really, but no one else knew, so not that big of a deal.

Besides, it was a kind of welcome change of pace. Had been a more than boring week so far, even for his standards. Doing a little bit of work couldn't hurt, as long as it wasn't too sweat-inducing, no super heavy lifting and such. Not his thing.

Ironic that it was an upcoming bake sale of all things, though. Maybe another reason why Cristo had urged him to come along, as a reminder of how the two of them had first met. There was some sort of nostalgic allure to it, he had to admit. Another Brownie point.
Maxim had only just arrived at Abby's place by car, been dropped off by his dad, who was on his way to meet up with some pals of his anyway. Had to love conveniences like that. He had never been to the house of the Floyds before and his first impression was that...well, it was big, really big. Not much else that stood out to him, though he could see why it would be suited to host a bake sale here.

He didn't know Abby all too well, he had been first introduced to her via Cristo. Real sunshine, that one, though her attitude was a tad too positive for his taste. Little bit of pessimism never hurt anyone, at least in his opinion. Still, he was glad to be of assistance to her, especially with Cristo being around as well, granted he probably wouldn't have agreed to help had it not been for the other boy in the first place.

Almost 5:30 PM now. He was dead on time, as always. Slowly, he trotted up to the entrance door, then swiftly adjusted his shirt's collar. Had to make a somewhat presentable appearance, after all. With a driblet of enthusiasm and making sure his perpetual frown was absent for once, Maxim rang the doorbell.

[Emprexx Plush]

((Abby Floyd Continued From Your Poor, Your Tired, Your Huddled Masses))

Ingredients? Check.

Utensils? Check.

Baking sheets? Check.

Trampled by Turtles? Check.

Babushka? Check.

Friends?

She had a good feeling that the ringing at the door meant that one was a check too! Best to see for herself, though. "I'm coming," she shouted from the kitchen as she skipped her way to the door, humming along to Wait So Long as she went. A quick turn of the knob brought Maxim into her smiling field of view. "Hey, come on in! I've got all the fixin's started in the kitchen. Thank you so much for coming!"

Abby didn't know Maxim very well, which was a shame since he seemed really nice. They just didn't cross all that much at school, and she didn't have much time to go hunting for people to get to know them better these days. Cristo had asked if he could come along, though, and Abby certainly wasn't going to turn down help from a kind-hearted friend of Cristo was vouching for them. They could get even more work done, and she'd get to make a new friend, so it was a win-win all around?

There was a certain disappointed tugging in her heart that she and Cristo wouldn't be spending the evening alone, but she couldn't put a finger why. Didn't they get enough of each other as is? He was her best friend, after all, and he did more than his fair share of putting up with her. Why should she be bothered that he wanted someone else along to hang out with them tonight?

Well, no use dwelling on it. There was work to do!

[backslash]

((Cristóbal Morales continued from I could live in the world just like a stranger))

The Floyd household was always a whirl of activity in the best possible way. Animals, relatives, Abby in all of her vital liveliness, and Cristóbal himself in the middle of it all whenever he was around, which had been more often than not over the years. Today was no different, and he'd already busied himself with setting up their work stations in the kitchen when the doorbell rang, signaling Maxim's arrival.

Abby had been completely on board with the prospect of another helping hand, even though Maxim was someone she didn't know all that well. Cristo hadn't expected any different from her, and though it might have been nice for her to insist that she wanted to spend some one-on-one time with her best friend, he was glad he'd been given the opportunity to include Maxim. He still felt oddly responsible for him, like he needed to do whatever he could to make things work out a little better when given the chance. It was probably an unusual way to feel about one's friends, even close ones, but Maxim had never lost that fragility that practically exuded from him whenever the walls came down.

At any rate: brownies. Things had come full circle, one way or another.

Abby bustled off to let Maxim in, and Cristo left sorting out the ingredients and cooking tools for a moment to lean out of the kitchen and wave. "Hey, Maxim!"

[Rorick Skyve†]

The door opened and there was a sunburst, going by the name of Abby. A smiling, sweet-tempered ball of happiness, so he'd heard. And from what little he had witnessed himself over time thus far, that wasn't even an understatement. Though he had to admit, it was hard to not smile back at her when she was standing in front of him like that. So he did. A little.

"Thank you for having me over. I will do my best to not be a hindrance, I promise." Though his tone of voice was mostly self-deprecating, almost jesting, he himself knew that there was more than a grain of truth to that statement. Anything requiring some sort of dexterity was not exactly his cup of tea - but he was here now, so he had to at least try.

He thought about reaching out his hand in order to exchange a proper handshake for a second, but deemed it too...unfitting for the situation. So he simply nodded at Abby one more time, before stepping into her habitation.

Again, he was careful to remind himself that first impressions could be deceiving, but he really, actually found himself liking the interior from the get-go. It was a homely style, cozy, somehow even soothing. Not to mention the abundance of books lying around - yes, definitely to his taste. He would have to compliment Abby on this at some point or another.

Just then, he heard his name being called and momentarily discarded the previous thought. Turning his head, he spotted his friend peeking out of what he assumed to be the kitchen. Always the enthusiastic one, he seemed to already be at work. Admirable.

Maxim waved back, then starting walking towards Cristo, while glancing around the room some more. "Hello! You two have already started, yes?" He rubbed his palms together, a supposed sign of anticipation and excitement. Or so he hoped.

"Glad you invited me, really, I am."

[Emprexx Plush]

"Oh hun," Abby laughed as she grabbed things around the kitchen and adjusted the stations accordingly to her fidgety tendencies, "nevermind any idea of being a hindrance. We're glad to have an extra set of hands!" As she passed by Cristo, she hooked his waist in a quick sidehug and gave him a wink. "I'm sure Cristo's just glad to have someone else around so I don't work him to the bone today."

She clapped her hands excitedly as she motioned them towards the array of pans. "It won't be anything too tricky today! Granny and I mixed up all the batter in pans last night, so it's mostly gonna be baking, cutting, and sorting." A timer started going off on her hip, making her jump a little before scuttling towards the oven. "Speaking of! Here's our first set," she said as she moved four pans out of the oven and onto oven mitts on the counter. The scent of fresh baked brownies filled the kitchen within a few minutes. It took a little bit of effort to pull her mind out of the pans and back to the task at hand, but once she was back on track she pushed four more pans into the waiting oven and set another time her hip.

"After those cool for a bit, we'll get to work." Abby turned back to her friends and leaned back against the counter with her thumbs through the the front belt loops of her jeans. "Anything I left out? I know I can go kinda fast with this kind of thing."

[backslash]

"You know I don't mind the work," Cristo said. He'd have hugged Abby back, but she had moved along to pull the first batch of goods from the oven as soon as he thought of it. Instead, he moved to clear utensils from the counter so she could set the pan down. He stuck the food thermometer into the center just to be sure they were all the way done, though of course Abby's baking rarely produced less than spectacular results.

"We've got more stuff to make batter over there, Maxim, if you want to get started. Have you baked before?" He couldn't quite remember if Maxim had ever mentioned taking part in cooking as a hobby. He had a fondness for food, certainly - who didn't? - but he might lack experience in making it.

"If you haven't, it's easy enough to mix things. You take your flour, eggs, milk... uh, the other stuff..." Cristo shrugged. "There's a recipe written down somewhere."

[Rorick Skyve†]

Maxim watched Abby's every move, curious at first, then with growing fascination. She clearly knew what she was doing - of course she was, she wouldn't have set up a sale otherwise - but the way she was moving around, getting work done with such efficiency and glee at the same time, that really was something else. It was almost...invigorating to watch, yes. Maybe a bit overly dramatic the way he put it, but still.

Only when Cristo addressed him did he snap out of his sort-of-trance. Good question, actually. Had he ever baked before? One would have thought that he would have asked himself that question the second his friend had invited him to come and help out. But he hadn't, for some. In fact. he couldn't quite remember, actually- no right, there was that one time. Years back or so.

He shrugged. "I suppose saying I'm inexperienced would be a mild understatement. Tried it once, with my father helping me even. Still turned out...not that great." Maxim looked to the side, scratching his head. His scalp felt kind of itchy, he regretted not having showered earlier. Obviously too late for it now. Nothing he could do about it, except maybe scratch himself every once in a while when nobody was watching.

His gaze wandered back to the other two. About time he started actually being of help, enough time to loiter about later. "I should be able to work with a recipe though - basic stuff and such, can't be too hard, even for me. If you could hand it to me, that'd be nice."

[Rorick Skyve†]

The afternoon certainly ended up being more pleasant than Maxim had anticipated. Aiming to be useful for once, to provide assistance in a matter that concerned more than just his own person was an experience he had not made all too often before. Of course, he had not worked all that hard overall, hadn't even come close to pushing his own limits. Of course he hadn't, it had just been a session of baking, after all. Trivial, dull at times. But he had helped, no doubt about it and that was enough for him. He was content, overall.

Cristo and Abby, they had defiinitely enjoyed himself, far more than he had. And yet, something told him it wasn't just the prospect of baking itself that had caused this effect, this state of tangible bliss that they had been written all over them. There had been a certain mood in the air, one even he couldn't help but notice back then. His two pers certainly shared a special chemistry, yes. There was this peculiar gleam in the eye of his friend that he had spotted each time the former talked about their cheerful host. Yes, it was entirely possible that Cristo was in love with Abby. More than possible, likely even.

Of course, Maxim hadn't questioned his friend about it, not even mentioned it or made slight hints. It was their concern, not his. He wasn't even certain if Abby even knew about his friend's felings, granted they were of the sort he believed to have spied. Well, he certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell her. If the two of them truly needed someone else to set them up with each other, then maybe they didn't deserve each other at all. A harsh thought, but one Maxim deemed logical. He had decided to stop worrying about it alltogether, leave sentimentality and suchlike to those that appreciated it.

The results of their collective efforts ha been satisfactory, that was all that mattered. Still, he did not exactly plan to do so again all too soon. Maybe playing some more Baldur's Gate wasn't too bad a plan after all. He was left to his own thoughts there, at least. He certainly wouldn't tell that to Cristo though. Poor guy could have easily taken it the wrong way.

Yes, definitely not a wasted day, all in all. Could have used some improvements, sure, but it hadn't been cumbersome either, so that was a plus. Though he really needed to catch up on some of his maths school work, procrastination wasn't going to help him here any longer. Definitely was going to read some of that once he got home. Well, maybe after another hour of PC or so.

((Maxim Kehlenbrink continued in Wasserweber))

[backslash]

Baking happened! Other things happened too, but it was mostly background noise to the main event of batter and sweets and good friends. Cristo had things on his mind, of course, things that had nothing to do with their busy afternoon in the kitchen, but... Well, that could wait.

He'd always been particularly good at saving uncertain territory for later exploration.

((Cristóbal Morales continued in What the hell is a baseball?))

[Emprexx Plush]

Abby had fun baking with her friends who are nice.

((Abby Floyd Continued Elsewhere))