Rukia and Orihime and lemonade

[lunch_princess]

As the very place they lived in (Hungry Bear Restaurant) was a restaurant, Orihime enjoyed her time there immensely, and often made strange food concoctions to satiate her palate with. Today, however, she decided to have the offered Minute Maid Lemonade soda. Cooking could come later

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[kuchiki]

"A lemonade sounds good," said Rukia, smiling at Orihime. She was lounging on the floor. It was unusual for the shinigami to be so inactive, but there wasn't much to do today.

She laughed at Orihime's suggestion of putting the other sodas into the lemonade, but politely declined. "I think I'll just have a regular lemonade," she said. "I'm not as daring as you."

[lunch_princess]

Orihime was just happy Rukia wanted to share a lemonade with her. "Okay. I'll put raspberry and vanilla in mine. I want to see how that tastes. But yours will be plain~!"

Once finished, she took the glasses over, handed Rukia's to her, then settled on the floor.

[kuchiki]

"Do you really think such sweet flavors would taste good with something so sour?" Rukia asked, amused and quizzical. She took the lemonade and started to sip it.

"You know," she commented, "I saw these two kids selling lemonade, once, on TV. They had a stand and everything."

[lunch_princess]

"Sweet and sour is good~!" Orihime happily insisted, but as she started to drink the mix, she was a little disappointed. It wasn't in the additions, though.

She perked up a bit at the lemonade stand comment but said, "We could do that. But we should make our own. This soda lemonade isn't so good."

[kuchiki]

"You don't think so?" Rukia asked. She didn't really like any of the super-sugary drinks in Disney Land that much. "It could be better, I guess." She stirred her lemonade a little with her straw.

When Orihime mentioned making their own lemonade, she raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Do you know how to make lemonade?" Granted, if little kids did it, it probably couldn't be too hard.

[lunch_princess]

"No...it has that sugary soda taste. Lemonade is supposed to taste fresh, not like soda," Orihime said with a frown. Then she grinned. "We could make it much better! Lemonade's easy to make. You just squeeze lots of lemons, then sugar to taste. As much as you like, or as little. And some water, too. I'll show you."

Orihime got up, energized at the thought of doing something creative, then she turned to offer Rukia a hand up and added, "We can make it together."

[kuchiki]

Rukia took Orihime's hand, and for once, didn't hesitate. "All right," she said. Sugar and water and lemon ... a surprisingly normal combination, by Orihime's standards.

"Are you sure you don't want to make it kelp-flavored or something?" she couldn't resist teasing, hoping she wouldn't live to regret those words.

[lunch_princess]

It was normal, because Rukia asked how to make lemonade and Orihime was thinking of the basics. At the mention of kelp, however, Orihime grinned. "I hadn't thought of that one yet! I was thinking of using chocolate sauce, though."

[kuchiki]

"...Chocolate sauce?" Rukia said, blinking rapidly. "Well, maybe we should start by just doing the main ingredients, and then we can add different flavors." She wasn't sure how many people would want to try Orihime's adventurous concoctions.

[lunch_princess]

"Yes," Orihime agreed. "That's what I wanted to do. Make lots of batches so we can offer people all sorts of varieties." Either way, Orihime was sure it would be better than regular lemonade.

She led Rukia to the kitchen and started to look for a juicer, pulled out a bunch of lemons from the fridge, a pitcher from a cupboard, and the sugar. "We have everything we need."

[kuchiki]

"Then we can start!" said Rukia cheerfully. She stood on a chair and then grabbed a lemon and a juicer. She tried to get the -- whole, uncut -- lemon to give juice by rubbing it repeatedly on the juicer. When it was to no avail, she frowned, and first, increased her efforts, then handed Orihime the lemon.

"Something is wrong with that one."

[lunch_princess]

There was laughter, but, of course, coming from Orihime it was gentle, and not aimed at Rukia.

"I never thought of doing it that way," Orihime told her in all sincerity as she took the lemon and cut it in half. "One for you, one for me." That done, she put her half on the juicer and then twisted, producing a gush of yellow liquid.

"See? Just like that! It's even kinda fun."

[kuchiki]

Rukia took the other half, and then did exactly as Orihime did, blinking when it actually produced juice this time. "It is kind of fun!" she admitted cheerfully. And it was less complicated than juice boxes.

"How much juice do we need?"

[lunch_princess]

"It is fun!" Orihime agreed, grinning as she eagerly started on another lemon. As for the juice, Orihime had to shrug. "I thought we should just keep going! No telling how many people are going to want some."

[kuchiki]

"Good idea!" Rukia said, unable to keep from smiling in the face of Orihime's unabashed enthusiasm. She didn't know how many people would actually want their lemonade, but making it was fun.

"When we've got enough juice... how much should be lemon juice, and how much should be sugar and water?"

[lunch_princess]

"Mmmm..." Orihime thought that over and then informed Rukia, "It's best to put those to taste." She rummaged through the drawers (brandishing a mallet at one point - she briefly daydreamed she was a caveman getting ready to go out and hunt for a meal - then replacing it without a word) for a strainer, which she used to filter out the seeds as she poured the lemon juice into a pitcher.

"We just put enough water in to mellow out the sour taste a bit. Then we add sugar a little bit at a time, test it, and see if we like it. We need more juice, though, so we need to get juicing!" Orihime half-ordered, half-joked. Or was she being serious? It was hard to tell when she had that smile on her face and that cheerful note in her voice. She started cutting lemons and handing them to Rukia.