Confounded Christmas Cookies

[waterfell]

The warm aroma of gingerbread: spiced, aromatic, fragrant. The expansive kitchen is full of this delicious scent, beckoning and enticing. Decorated men sit in tidy little rows on cooling racks.That is, that's how it would be if any good smell like that weren't masked under the layers of burnt-to-a-crisp. Ami takes out yet another batch,

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[omuricerin]

What was this? Did she smell....BURNT COOKIES? This was unacceptable! Christmas cookies needed to be not burnt!

It looks like it's time for Ikuko-mama to the rescue! Amazingly, she doesn't seem to mind that she's no longer in her kitchen. Or that Ami has brown hair. Or really that she's in a different dimension for that matter. No. All that mattered was the cookies. The cookies needed to be saved!

"Ami-chan!" Her voice booms through the kitchen as she points towards the rejected pile. "What is this!"

[waterfell]

Tsukino-san's... mama? For a moment, Ami stares, stripped of everything from her false cheerfulness to her usual anger to anything but the gut-wrenching reality that her actions have consequences far beyond the people they directly impact.

She recovers in time to hope the stunned silence will be seen as no more than natural surprise at suddenly being intruded upon. She shakes her head to clear it of whatever disturbing thoughts are invading her, more and more by the moment.

"They were burnt," she says lamely. Don't save the cookies; save her, Ikuko-mama.

[omuricerin]

"Burnt!" The word is repeated. "The result of someone cooking it incorrectly and not wishing to rectify their mistake! It appears, Ami-chan, that your education is woefully inadequate in this respect! So, you shall have a new teacher!"

Saving Ami can come in a few minutes; maybe it will even come in the course of saving the cookies.

[waterfell]

At this moment, she and the cookies are one and the same in terms of needing to be saved. And Ami has the distinction of being a very good student! Usually.

"They were for a scavenger hunt," she explains. "So I thought I'd try to bake them myself..." Yes, Ami, because Ikuko really needs to know every little detail of why the deadly mountain keeps growing. For that matter, it seems like Ami would learn after long enough and stick to things she can do. What about knitting some gingerbread men?

[omuricerin]

Well, at least she knows why Ami's got a huge pile of burnt cookies nearby. But here comes the critique.

"You've got the temperature up too high!" From the oven, back to the results. "And your men are thin like wafers! It's as my mama would say, 'the quicker you try to make perfection, the quicker perfection slips away'!"

There is clearly only one solution: Don't worry, Ikuko-mama will fix it a cooking lesson.

[waterfell]

Where's Nephrite? He usually eats these things.*

"Too thin?" She will heed your wisdom, Mama. Actually, it's kind of nice to have, well, any Mama here helping her learn to bake. If only it were hers. Ami pops over to adjust the oven, switching it to a slightly lower heat that will make the given time actually work well.

"I should feed you more," she jokes to the men next, and she starts making a few thicker.

* - not to be confused with Eddie and squirrels, but further National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation references are welcome, as the mun has not seen it this year yet. D:

[omuricerin]

"Yes! Too thin is bad!" Ikuko seems to approve of the thicker ones. "Also, make sure you spray the pan well or coat it with some margarine before you put it in the oven! If you find your food is sticking to it, that's why!"?

[waterfell]

"Right!"

...What? Somehow she's slipped right into that habit of listening to the directions of someone bold enough to give them and make them sound authoritative. She pauses. Then she decides it's fine. This isn't something important and, well, maybe the cookies will turn out alright this way.

Ami finds some non-stick cooking spray and coats the next pan. That grease should conduct the heat a little more, and she really wants to be sure these go alright, so she'll check them halfway through the time they're supposed to take, and every minute after. She gives a nod at what seems to be nothing, her plan set.

[omuricerin]

Good, good! Ikuko watches as Ami puts the cookies into the oven. Now, it was a question of waiting. And...toothpicks, as she takes one out.

"Every ten minutes, poke the center of one of the men in the middle. If the toothpick comes out clean, the men are finished cooking!"

[waterfell]

And the smell of gingerbread once again makes a bold stand against the evil forces of carbon. Who will win?!

This also, unfortunately, leaves Ami facing Ikuko with nothing to distract her. She doesn't really know how to look at the older woman, and if Ikuko's perceptive about such things, she might notice Ami never quite looks her in the eye or full in the face.

For that matter, shouldn't Ikuko be worrying about herself and how she'll get back to her world and her house?

"You probably need to get home, so, thank you for the advice," she says a bit brusquely.

[omuricerin]

"Well, you're very welcome!" At this Ikuko taps her chin. "But, if this is anything like Paradisim, I might be here awhile!"

[waterfell]

Hmmm. Another world?

"Paradism?" Ami asks, for now deciding to invite Ikuko to say more until she has an idea of the situation. If it turns out Ikuko's already familiar with this sort of phenomenon, she can explain the nexus without sounding insane.

Consider it repayment for the terrible food. Wait. Repayment for the help!

[omuricerin]

"Oh yes!" Ikuko nods. "It was a city inside a giant cage! I got to beat up bad guys in this maze thing, met some new friends, got to meet Aino Minako and Usagi's wonderfully cute boyfriend, and even perfected my newest recipes!"

Oreo-stuffed omelet, anyone?

[waterfell]

No, thanks; she lost her appetite somewhere around 'Aino Minako'. Who happens to be lurking this nexus in various forms. Ew. Minako gets a pass on the betrayal theme since none of them knew her well anyway back then, but that stubbornness to go on fighting still leaves Ami irritated.

Usagi's boyfriend? Ami sounds less than thrilled, and closer to suspicious: "Chiba Mamoru?" Curse it, everywhere.

[omuricerin]

"That's Mamorin!" She gives a little motherly giggle. "He's just so shy around me! But I apparently have that effect on men~"

[waterfell]

Whatever she says, Tsukino-san's mother will laugh it off or ignore it, or maybe hate her like the sailor senshi. It's not worth it. But what she'd almost like to say is that he's bad for Usagi. That's the closest she could come, anyway. Of course, then she'd have to explain herself and that would get pretty sticky.

How convenient, it's time to check the cookies! Ignore the clock saying she could ignore them for another three minutes. They need to be looked at now. Ami busies herself about this task and, it turns out, the cookies still need more time. She slides the rack back into the oven and straightens her posture.