Time for some cake!

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Whether or not the other two were following him wasn't his greatest concern at the moment, but he at least hoped that they were. He didn't want to be lonely! However, his destination remained clear in his mind, and he navigated the corridors with particular ease - the days of getting lost in unfamiliar territory far behind him. While he still preferred living outdoors than indoors, the strange environment no longer baffled him as much.

He peeped inside the kitchen. No one was present. At least, not at the moment. Checking behind himself to see if the other two were following, he crept around the counters quietly, as if there was always the risk of getting caught. For some reason, he felt as if he wasn't meant to be here. The rebellious feeling dissuaded him, but at the same time, it was strangely intoxicating. Plus, the thought of sinking his teeth into what sounded like the most delicious meal in the world was only too tempting to resist.

"If I was a cake, where would I being...?" he hummed to himself, opening several cupboards, all of them reaping the same results - cutlery and bowls, and maybe some spices and ingredients. What if there was no cake? What if it was a lie? Worry crossed his face. "Do you think we have to make it...?" he asked curiously, hoping they would help out.

Rachael managed to follow Lunie all the way to the kitchen and when she arrived she found winded. Lunie certainly could run. She didn't answer Lunie's question immediately, giving herself a second to catch her breath.

"I doubt they'll have any cake already made here, but I'm sure we can find the ingredients to make one." Rachael began to navigate her way through the kitchen, quickly becoming comfortable in it. Rachael could never really get lost in a kitchen. There was something about them, no matter how different they were from her own kitchen at home, that made it strangely obvious where everything was kept. This one was huge and a bit overwhelming.

Rachael's mother always traveled a lot for her job. She herself was the cook of her family and made dinner almost everyday for her dad and brother. Remembering this, she suddenly found herself wondering how they were faring without her. The baker of the house, however, was her father. Rachael couldn't remember a birthday in which they'd gone out and bought a cake. Her birthday cakes had always been made at home, from scratch.

She made her way to the pantry and found a gigantic bag of flour that didn't even seem feasible to lift. She left it there, making note in her mind of its location as she tried to remember how her dad always made her favorite cake, and listed some of the ingredients needed aloud, "We need eggs, butter, cinnamon... I wonder if there's any bakers chocolate around here." Already Rachael had the image of a three-layer chocolate cake sprinkled with chocolate shavings. The same one her dad always made for her birthday and when she begged.

She moved to the refrigerator pulling out three eggs and a stick of margarine butter and placed them on the counter.

Chimney had quickly followed The two from the courtyard to the Kitchen. She had never been in one before and all the materials were so cool to her. Every was shiny and smelled nice. As the girl moved around Chimney followed her watching everything. There was a big bag she seemed to have wanted but left. Chimney felt bad for Rachael so she tried to get it herself. She climbed up a bit and pulled on the top of the bag. It was new and unopened.

As it started to fall forward chimney moved out of the way as it fell. Even though it was sealed before, on impact it poofed a bit covering the girl in flour. "Um..did I help?" she asked innocently.

"Make one..." he repeated the idea in his head, looking to Rachael as she began to associate herself with her whereabouts. She seemed far more responsible than he, so he sought to trust her more with this situation. Besides, he couldn't be too sure of what this 'cake' thing was actually composed of. He'd rarely seen one, never mind sample.

"Eggs?" He seemed confused at this ingredient. "Why eggs..?" He was pretty sure tasting food didn't have anything to do with hatching young. And the other things she listed didn't ring a bell in his memory, so he only stood confused, glancing around for something that would give him a clue, but seeing nothing immediately.

As she pulled out the eggs, he looked to them, reaching a finger to gently prod at them. However, a thud behind him made him jump, and he ended up nudging the egg harder than he intended, sending it rolling off the table and landing in a grisly yellow and white splodge on the floor. He turned around in alarm as to what made the noise, and sighted Chimney, covered in flour. Oh!" he gasped, rushing towards her. He knelt down, dusting away at the flour with his fingertips like a worried mother. "You such a mess!" Smiling warmly, he seemed satisfied at his hasty cleaning and stood up again, nodding to her. "I think you help lots anyway, even if you get into a big mes."

Rachael began looking through some of the floor cabinets looking for vanilla and cinnamon. Upon locating the spices cabinet she found that it was packed with all kinds of exotic things, some which she'd never even heard of. This really meant something, considering her mother was from India. She was unable to find the cinnamon among the ranks of the first row of spices and had to dig way back into the cabinet to find it. As soon as she had her around it, a loud thud startled her and she quickly pulled up, banging her head on the top of the cabinet.

She took a moment to pull out of the cabinet properly, rubbing the back of her head as she stood. She came out just in time to see a white oblong fall to the floor and shatter on impact. She didn't even give herself the opportunity to look back towards the pantry where Chimney the ghost was before thinking she was in way over her head here.

Rachael left the cinnamon on the counter and grabbed a bowl from one of the cabinets. Thinking proactively now she took the remaining to eggs and placed them in the bowl so Lunie wouldn't be able to knock them off the counter as well. Then, she joined the gathering at the pantry and smiled down the other two. Though she knew they'd have to clean up after they were done, she couldn't help smiling at how adorable Chimney and Lunie were. They were like children.

She reached for the bag of flour, adjusting it so no more would fall out. "It's fine, Chimney." She said with a bit of a laugh. "The flour had to come down one way or another." She held onto the top of the bag and used her foot to kick it back under the shelf. This way she could get sense of how much flour had been spilled. It was a pretty decent amount. She noticed there was also a broom in the pantry. It was one of the old-fashioned ones; the kind you saw witches riding as they flew through the sky. Either way, she had a feeling she'd need it.

Rachael looked back at the counter to see what ingredients they had now. They needed another egg now that Lunie had broken one. She thought back to some of the other thing. Under her breath she said, "Baking soda." Then her voice rose at a sudden realization, "Sugar! Duh. Brown sugar." She turned in the pantry, locating the brown sugar easily on one of the shelves. Her chef's intuition told her that the baking soda should have been in here also, but she couldn't find it among all the random clutter and flour that had thrown all over the place.

Chimney tried shaking off the flour. When Lunie came to help her clean up, what it seemed, she gave him a big cheesy grin. "I didn't mean to make mess!" She watched as Rachael bustled around looking for ingredients. Baking soda? Why would you bake soda? Wouldn't it disappear in the heat?

Chimney got up and made her way to the sink and washed her hands. She held them out to Rachael to show they were clean. "Why is the sugar brown?"

Lunie smiled forgivingly at Chimney until he heard a quiet bang, turning his head around to see Rachael rubbing her head. So many accidents! It was such an unstable environment. He was more than ready to rush over and attend to her, but she seemed fine - the fact she wasn't currently sprawled on the floor at least told him this.

The mess of flour on the floor did frustrate him though - he hated the uncleaniless. He did try to sweep some of it out the way with his hand, but some of it ended up sticking to his hand instead, and when he tried to rub it off onto his shorts, it stuck to that as well. He whined. Although, a thought did arrive to him - was this like sugar? It was at least powdery and white like it. He experimentally licked his hand, tasting it before realising it didn't quite carry the same sweetness as the sugar snacks he loved.

Then Rachael mentioned sugar. His ears immediately pricked towards her, his head turning shortly after. His expression was akin to a dog asking for treats, and he smiled hopefully, trailing towards her. "Can I...?" He reached out hopefully towards the sugar, his eyes pleading.

Rachael pulled back out of the pantry, her eyes still scanning the shelves for baking soda. Still not seeing it, she turned and walked back to the counter.

At Chimney's question she said, "It's just a different kind of sugar." At first she wasn't entirely sure what Lunie was asking for and after realizing it was the brown sugar she quickly shook her head. "This isn't like regular sugar, Lunie. It really doesn't taste good on its own." She placed the small bag of sugar on the counter as far away from the edge as she could in hopes that the distance alone would deter Lunie from trying to eat it anyway.

Rachael made her to the oven and smiled at Chimney as she passed her. "Chimney can you get another egg from the fridge, please?" She wanted Lunie and Chimney to have fun and participate in the baking of the cake, and trusted Chimney enough not to break the egg... despite the fact that she had just dropped a whole bag of flour.

Upon reaching the oven she set it to preheat to 350 degrees. As a precaution, she grabbed the lever jutting out slightly from the oven door and pulled it so the oven locked. Rachael then returned to the cabinet where she'd found the bowl for the eggs and retrieved a larger one, placing it on the counter with the ingredients.

Rachael began looking through all the cupboards and drawers again, listing off some of the things she was looking for. During this journey she managed to locate the baking soda, a measuring cup, a can of PAM, a small bottle of vanilla with hardly any left in it, and an assortment of dry measuring spoons held together by a metal hoop. Not having found a whisk, she settled for a wooden spoon.

Overcumbered, she began carrying all of these back to the counter, clearly on the verge of dropping them all.

Chimney watched the odd brow sugar on the table as if it would pounce at her like a camel spider. An enemy to her instincts. She narrowed her eyes at it and flicked her forked tongue. When Rachael addressed her she looked with an innocent look towards the girl. "Yes, I can get an egg!" She pranced over to the cooling device and opened it seeing a carton with some eggs in it. She picked up one very slowly and carefully. She didn't want it to break.

She brought it over to the other eggs net to the sugar. She looked at it with suspicion again but tried to make sure the eggs didn't break. She placed it on the counter with success. looking to the other girl, "You need some help?" She went and started picking things off the top of her pile. She didn't want her to get hurt! Chimney looked around for Lunie. He seemed to like the sugar. She didn't. It was...evil.

Regular sugar? There were different kinds of sugars? He gave a small, disappointed whine when the sugar was placed far away from him, and his arms reached out hopelessly anyway. Sugar was sugar - it had to taste good! But childhood had raised him to be an obedient kid, and he couldn't find it in himself to go directly against Rachael's instructions.

Another egg..? Oh. Yeah, he'd broken the first. Head hanging slightly guiltily, he watched Chimney retrieve the egg, his fingers twiddling anxiously. A question settled within him, and he couldn't help but pipe up. "...Why do we need eggs? I think we are making cake?" His expression was notably baffled. "Not chickens?"

Noticing Rachael seemed to be having some difficulty, he skipped over, plucking the wooden spoon from her hold should it slip. He twirled the instrument in his hand a little with a dainty smile. "Can we start now? We have everything yes? Pleeease?" he hurried, skipping towards the table and grabbing the bag of brown sugar, as if that were the prime ingredient in concocting any cake.

Rachael managed, with the help of Lunie and Chimney to get back to the counter without dropping anything. She smiled to each of them in turn to say thank you. She was thoroughly confused by Lunie's question. It took her a second to realize that he was referring to egg's that chickens actually hatched from rather than the ones used in cooking. She laughed in spite of herself, though not in a way that seemed like she was laughing at Lunie.

"No, a chicken can't hatch from these. They're unfertilized. No baby chicks here. Eggs are used in cooking all the time. They're versatile and can be used to make a lot of different dishes." Eggs were a cook's favorite thing in the world. Upon reaching the counter she looked over all the different ingredients crowding it, pulling a few smaller bowls from the cabinet. "Um, I think we have just about everything. We're missing baking soda." A grimace crossed her face. "The baking soda is important. Without it the cake won't rise." She looked to Chimney. "Can you look for the baking soda. It should be in the pantry. It'll be a can about this big." She put one hand above the other, about a foot apart to demonstrate the height.

Rachael pulled out a dull knife from one of the drawer's and cut the stick of margarine butter in half, placing it in a bowl and then throwing in the microwave for 10 seconds. The knife she left far back on the counter, just in case. She pulled the bowl of eggs closer to herself and broke each of them, allowing the liquid inside to collect in the bowl. She made sure to check that none of the eggs had blood in them, which happened on occasion. As she finished, the microwave went off and she retrieved the butter, dumping the melted stuff into the largest bowl.

"Ok," She looked down to Lunie and her voice got stern. "Lunie, I'm going to stir the butter and while I'm doing it I want you to add the sugar. Not to fast though. Slowly. And when I tell you to stop, you'll stop right? We can't put too much." If he didn't promise her this, she would ask Chimney to do it instead.

In preparation, Rachael picked up the spoon and began to stir the butter. She needed two cups of sugar, and was confident she'd know about how much it would be on sight... provided Lunie didn't pour too quickly.

Chimney had put the things down and he ears perked up at the mention of her name. She was glad to help! The baking soda confused her though. soda you bake? what messed up food was that? Her lack of food knowledge. Going into the pantry she moved things around till she was about to give up. she couldn't find a thing the exact size Rachael had gestured and reading wasn't her strangest suit. With what she could try though, she finally read the words baking soda.

She pulled it out and held it high in the air, showing it off that sh e found it like a little kid. She quickly went to the counter and put it next to the other things, hissing at the sugar as she went. She looked to the others to find her next job. making cake was fun!

After his inquiry was answered, Lunie's look of confusion didn't alleviate. He looked to the eggs again in disbelief before returning his glance to Rachael. "What eggs don't have birds in them?" he asked. "They sound like very silly eggs." Nodding at his own claim, he was suddenly unsure if Rachael really knew what she was doing with this... 'cake' business. Strange brown sugar? Eggs without chickens? Soda? It was all very foreign and strange indeed.

But when the eggs cracked, he almost expected little feathery balls of yellow to pop out into the bowl. But when yellow splodges appeared instead, he stared in shock, as if Rachael had just crouched down an laid an egg herself. How the?! His speechless look of surprise said all the words he needed to say.

Blinking it off, he looked to Chimney as she went and completed her mission, giving a small, polite applause as she did so. She was so clever! Tracking down that pesky ol' baking soda and all.

However, as Rachael bestowed him with his own task, he listened, his expression intently focused, his ears swivelled forward. He gave a confident nod. There was no way he was going to mess this up! Although his heart did blossom with pride at being chosen, and for the sugar too! His favourite! Taking the bag, he drew a claw across the top, opening it with a rrrip. As he saw the sugar - it didn't really look like regular sugar at all. That was weird. However, he tried to resist the temptation to sneak a quick taste. He seemed hesitant, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips in anticipation. No, Rachael had started stirring now, she needed his aid.

Slowly, he picked up the bag and tipped it towards the bowl, watching the small grains spill out. It was almost... entrancing. He still really wanted a taste, and his eyes widened as he stared longingly towards the mini brown waterfall that flowed from the tip of the bag. He seemed entirely caught up in his thoughts, and if Rachael had somewhere asked him to stop, he probably would've missed it.

Rachael smiled up at Chimney. She was glad that the girl seemed to be enjoying herself. "Thanks Chimney." An excited tone reached her voice. "You saved the cake!" She looked back at Lunie to explain further. "Well, if every egg a chicken laid had a chick in it, then there would be a lot of chicks in the world."

She looked around a bit, searching for something else Chimney could do, but was distracted by the stirring. She had to make sure Lunie didn't pour too much sugar in. The last thing she wanted was for Chimney to feel left out though.

"Okay Lunie, that's enough." She waited for Lunie to stop pouring the sugar, but when he didn't, she dropped the spoon, and lifted the bag to stop it herself. "Lunie." She said in a quiet scolding manner, but she was still smiling. She stirred the mixture a bit more, until it got fluffy, then added a few drops of vanilla, stirring that in as well.

Rachael decided it was Chimney's turn to participate, and grabbed another small bowl from the cabinet. She brought the bowl to the pantry and used it to carry a sizable amount of flour back to the counter. She picked up the melted butter from the microwave and pulled the salt, cinnamon closer to herself. Then she gestured for Chimney to come over, holding out the bowl of flour to her.

"Same thing as with Lunie. Pour in the flour slowly until I tell you to stop. Okay?" She finished it off with a smile, then turned back to the bowl and began stirring. As Chimney poured in the flour, she would add the cinnamon, butter and salt in pinches. On the other side of the kitchen, the oven beeped to let her know that it had reached the proper temperature.

Chimney felt appreciated. Was the cake in danger though? She watched as the two worked on the cake happily. She was glad she had friends! Maybe they would like her animal for if they saw it again. She twitched her ears and hurried over to her friend. As she talked chimney's head tilted to the side trying to listen better. "I can do that!" She picked up the flour and poured it into the bowl. The white powder coming out surprised her. Where were the flowers!?

Either way when Rachael would give the command, chimney was ready to stop pouring. "Lunie! look at this!" Making a cake was just to cool to her.

As the bag was tilted up , he blinked in surprise to Rachael, before his expression became apologetic, his head bowing only slightly. "Oh!" he chirped. "Sorry! I get very carried away doing this, yes. But lots of sugar is good sugar?" Even during his slight blunder, he'd try to remain optimistic.

As it was Chimney's turn to do something, he gave her a slight tip of the head, as if a 'good luck' manner. As course, at the word 'flour' (which be chance he'd mistaken for 'flower'), he watched with wide intent eyes as the substance was poured. There were no flowers. Why did kitchens have to lie all the time?

He did keep an eye on their little job, but he'd remembered that he had an entire bag of sugar in his hands. Just waiting. Begging, 'one taste! one taste'! He'd wanted to suppress his rebellious desires, but... neither of them were looking. He could almost hear his brother's voice egging him on in his head.

He stuck a finger inside, bringing back up just a few grains. He licked. And smiled. No, this wasn't like ordinary white sugar... but it was sweet. Very sweet. He took another swipe of his finger. Two fingers. His hand. His pupils dilated with glee.

Eventually, he found himself to be entirely indulged in his sugar treat, regardless of what the other two were doing.

Rachael was distracted, making sure she told Chimney to stop pouring at the right time. She laughed at what Lunie said sugar. "Yeah, it may taste good, but it's not very good for you, especially if you have too much. Too much sugar can make things taste bad too. Okay, Chimney that's enough. Thanks!"

She smiled sweetly at the girl before picking up the measuring cup and heading to the sink. She turned the water to run hot and held a finger under the faucet until she felt it was the right temperature. Then she filled the measuring cup up to the 1 cup line. She stopped abruptly as she turned back, seeing Lunie with the sugar. "Lunie!" She walked towards the boy, placing the cup of hot water gently on the counter, before reaching to take the sugar from him. "Don't tell me you ate it all!"

Chimney stepped back when Rachael has told her to stop. Her eyes caught on to a Lunie eating the evil brown sugar. She hissed at it and cautiously stepped towards him. "Lunie. It'll make you sick! It's evil!" She watched Rachael trying to take it back. It was silly. Something caught Chimney's attention. The flour on the floor was still there.

Chimney crept towards it and got on all fours. Sticking a finger in the powder she dragged it around. She could make a picture!

Lunie was more than ready to take another scoop of that delectable sugar when a voice startled him. He looked up in alarm just in time to see Rachael reaching for the sugar. Almost instinctively, he snatched it up, holding it protectively close to him. "I-I not eating it all..!" he tried to defend himself, before peeping into the bag. It was half full, anyway. Or half empty. Depending on how you looked at it.

"Evil?!" he echoed with worry as he looked to Chimney. The sugar was evil? And make him sick?! He gaped in horror, unable to believe his ears. "Sugar isn't evil!" he tried to pipe up. "It taste like good!" A frown twitched at his lips. "...Super nice good. You're not taking it!" To exaggerate his point, his grip on the bag became stubbornly tight, crumpling the edges.

Rachael let out a light sigh at Lunie's stubbornness. It was okay, though. She'd dealt with stubborn children. It was simply a matter of setting their priorities straight. She leaned over a bit, placing her palms on her knees so she was eye level with Lunie and smiled sweetly at him. She wasn't about to just take the sugar from him. That would only result in disaster.

"Okay, Lunie. You can have the sugar, but!" She said the word "but" louder than the rest of the sentance, with emphasis, so Lunie wouldn't get his hopes up. "If you keep eating the sugar, I won't let you have a piece of the cake." She move to poke Lunie in the stomach, then proceeded to justify herself. "I wouldn't want you to get a tummy ache from all the sweets." Her head swiveled in Chimney's direction for a moment. "Chimney's right, you know? Too much sugar is going to make you sick."

Rachael stood up straight again and moved towards the counter, leaving Lunie to his decision. She took the hot water and poured it into the bowl as well, stirring, but she continued to speak to Lunie as she did. "Besides, I don't think me and Chimney can eat this whole cake on our own. I don't want to get a tummy ache, either."

Rachael began to look around the cabinets again before locating to circular cake pans. She slowly poured the contents of the bowl into each pan, hoping to persuade Lunie further with the flow of chocolaty cake batter. When she was finished, she located a spoon and scooped a bit of what was left in the bowl and held the spoon out to Lunie. "Try it. It's really good."

Rachael took the now empty bowl and put it in the sink. Then she took each pan from the counter, unlocked the oven and placed them inside, locking the oven once more. The cake was supposed to back for about a half an hour. In the meantime, they could clean the kitchen up a bit. They'd made quite a mess. She moved to the pantry and smiled down at Chimney. "What are you drawing?"

A large curve was closest to her. When the question was asked, Chimney simply replied, "A happy person!" She added two lines for eyes and made a large circle around it. When she was done she clapped to herself. She remembered why the flour was there to start then. "Oh! The cake! Can we eat it now?" No doubt it was tasty!

Lunie's tightened grip on the bag was beginning to look more like a defensive hug, especially as Rachael leaned towards him. It was all his! He didn't want her to take it away!

However, her words surprised him, and his happy gasp was interrupted by her 'but'. No... cake? His smile, which was opened wide with exclamation, quickly drooped down into a frown of despair. The dilemma was perplexing, he really loved this sugar, but... he really wanted to try that cake too.

It was the spoon that finally changed his mind. He set the bag of sugar back on the counter, giving it a last sorrowful glance before reaching to pluck the spoon from her. He licked it, rolling the taste around in his mouth. It was... glorious. No, this was better than that silly sugar, this was superb. "I love it Rachael," he squealed, adorning a fervent grin.

He licked, continuing to do so even after all the batter had been successfully cleaned off in hopes that some of the taste still might remain on the spoon.

Carrying the spoon in his mouth, he pulled himself up on top of the counter to walk along, careful not to step on any of the equipment or food that could be lying around. Upon approaching Chimney and Rachael, he sat down, allowing his legs to dangle over the edge of the counter. He leaned forward, trying to peer at the picture Chimney was doodling, although it was upside down from his view. "Woooooow... You like a chef and an artist," he drawled, sticking licking the chocolate-less spoon.