smashrising | Baking Quest

Entry tags:

rio/oddish (pokemon)

Baking Quest

Who: Rio and ya'll.
What: Searching for animals and ~~wrassalin'~~ capturing them.
Where: In the fields and forest over yonder.
When: Weekends in March.

It was great that things were settling into some bizarre form of normalcy despite reality trying its absolute hardest to remain otherwise. He didn't try to think too hard on the people who were missing or just up and disappeared because it was pretty sad to think about. When he couldn't avoid it, it reminded him of what else he was missing in this life. Cake.

Cakes! Turnovers! Pies! Cookies! Eclairs! Cupcakes! Brownies! Everything that was baked, delightfully sweet and bad for you in excess. Everything that was perfect to gorge on in excess because you were sad so that makes it totally okay. And since you were sad, no one judged you even when you finished the whole skillet of cinnamon rolls by yourself. Which he would never admit to ever doing.

The only thing that was stopping him from fattening up the mansion with so many cakes was a lack of fresh ingredients. You needed things like eggs, milk and cream, which he couldn't just hop over to a corner store and pick up. He also didn't want to use what he assumed were eons-old packets of dry milk in the pantry, because at that point he was better off serving mud pies (that would probably taste better, too). No, to get what he wanted, they needed animals.

During the weekends, Rio scavenged some rope from around the mansion, found himself a small pull-wagon which he loaded with supplies for the day and headed out to the fields and forest to catch some animals. He didn't expect to find any cows chillin' out there, but a couple chickens or egg-laying creatures. Maybe he could even start a tiny farm with whatever he or anyone else found out there. As long as it was used to meet his delicious, delicious end goal, even a goat would do.

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Someone had taken notice of the green haired boy who kept going weekend after weekend pulling his little cart out and about. One of those days she decided to inquire what he was going on about since this was one of the last people she had spoken too before the moon fell and was curious as to what pace of normalcity he had gone for.

Approaching from nearby, Ronnae offered a friendly wave and a nod. "Hey."

Rio was so involved in thinking up the schematics for his farm-plan that he almost missed the greeting from Ronnae. He paused in step and returned her wave with one of his own.

"Oh, hi. How're you doin' this afternoon?"

"I'm good, you seem to be hard at work." She smiled and nodded at his items. "Mind if I ask what kind of work you'll be doing?" Because she'd be happy to help! She needs to get her mind back on track and wants to busy herself you know!

"'Course I am! Now's not the time to be lazin' about, even though I really, really want to. But'chu know what they say: we gotta make our own future, and boy if that ain't truer now than ever."

Motioning to his rope, box and cage, Rio then pointed to the forest. "Well, since the atmosphere is all tense in the mansion, I was thinking I'd bake pound cake or some sorta cobbler but I realized we don't have much for fresh supplies. I thought maybe if luck was willin', I'd be able to find some animals in the forest that I could raise as livestock."

"Baking?" She beamed a smile and looked around. "Oh, that would definitely make a lot of people if at least a bit happier. I... I'd s-sure love it myself." she looked over to the forest and nodded. "I can tag along if you'd like? I'd love to help make baked goods and I wouldn't feel right if I let you go alone, we still don't know everything that'd out there in this new place."

Rio looked the green girl up and down before nodding his agreement. Sure she was a shorty like him, but she appeared stronger than he did, in the least. That would be useful if his plans didn't go well.

"I'd welcome any company. I don't much think I'd be able to wrangle up anything bigger'n a dog by my lonesome, and who knows what sort of creepy crawlies live out there?"

Ronnae smiled, happy that she'd be able to assist.

"Exactly, so it's good to go in groups to keep track and watch each other's backs." It was adventuring 101 when you had teammates and were in an unexplored region. It was too dangerous to go alone.

"Well, lead the way and I'll be close behind."

He took a step forward before tentatively glancing over his shoulder. There wasn't any specific path he was taking and it wasn't like he knew where he was going so it was going to be a case of the blind leading the blind. He supposed it didn't matter as long as he appeared to know what he was doing.

With his head held high, Rio began striding across the lawn and past the hedges on the way to the outskirts of the forest. His little wagon followed behind him, creaking and squealing as it was pulled.

It honestly didn't matter where they went or how long they would be out for. Ronnae was very accustomed to long and very dangerous campaigns and non-military outtings during her adventuring days. So wherever Rio took them, she'd be fine and ready for anything. Well, most of everything.

"So, any ideas to how big or varied you're planning on making this? Or is it a project on the go?"

"Ah..." his voice trailed off and he looked off towards the canopy of trees waiting to meet them. "I'm not real sure. I kinda thought about it off the top of m'head when I was cravin' somethin' from home. Like..big ol' buttery biscuits drowin' in butter." He could almost smell them, now. Most pokepuffs didn't even compare.

"Realized I couldn't get none of that here and only wanted a few supplies but...I think if I want somethin' sustainable, it's gonna need to be more'n a hen house."

Ronnae smiled and nodded. "I think we can manage to get something sustainable running easy. Even with the lack of advanced materials, what we have on hand from all the cleaning and scavenging would be great for a really nice set up." Obviously her gears were already running at full speed with ideas.

"Once we see what we're working with, we can adjust."

"Got little doubt we can make it work, assumin' we got any luck this weekend. Right now the biggest hurdle is catchin' some useful animals. I reckon we can mash out all th'rest later." Because the best-made plans were when you didn't plan at all, of course.

"I'm down with that." Ronnae laughed a little and nodded. She liked spontenuity better. Some of her best ideas came after she stopped forcing herself to beat her head against a wall. "I'm actually pretty excited, learning more about the creatures of this new plane will be beneficial all around. Even better if it's creatures we're accustomed for."

As soon as they were under the treeline, he rolled the sleeves up on his shirt, enjoying the coolness of the shade. The wheels of the wagon were even louder against the uneven ground.

"I know what'cha mean. Granted, I'm not the type that's ever been too interested in higher learnin', but I always like t'know what I'm up against. Since we're walkin' into mostly unknown territory, I bet it'd be of some use t'somebody to take notes on the baddies we run inta. Next time, maybe."

Funny that Rion mentions that, one look besides him and he'd see Ronnae was already taking notes and mapping out the area as they went. She looked over and blinked once before smiling sheepishly.

"O-oh, it's not a problem. I've been wanting to anyways so we have a better idea of where we're at. And I can multitask anyways." she nodded.

Rio looked surprised at diligence for only a moment before chuckling. "Well ain't you an A+ student? Words hadn't even left m'lips yet and you were already all over that. I reckon you do this sorta thing a lot, huh?"

"Can't teach if I don't apply myself too you know." she smiled as a small blush crept to her cheeks. "But yes, I did go out on a lot of missions back home, so recon was always top priority when going somewhere new."

'Teach'! That was right--she did mention she was a teacher last time, didn't she? With all the planetary explosion things, that little bit slipped his mind.

"Yes ma'am, you'd be right about that," he said, addressing her a bit more formally. "I don't know much about recon and missions, but I guess it's common sense to map where you're goin' so you don't end up lost an' eaten by wild wolves." Which he is certain is an accurate representation of what happens whenever you get lost.

"M-Ma'am? Oh n-no, Ronnae is fine." she quickly replied as she shook her head.

The latter comment did make her laugh a little. "No worries about getting eaten by wolves. In fact, I'd be wary if I were them, wolf makes for a very tasty and tough meat that's great in stews."

Marine grumbled as she walked outside the mansion. She swore, if a steering mechanism blew up on her ONE MORE TIME... there wasn't much she could do about it.

A bit disheveled and disheartened, a distraction was in order. There was an odd bloke wheeling some strange stuff around the grounds.

"Oi, mate. Yeah, you! What're all--" She gestured to his cache. "--these thingos?"

Rio paused in step and turned to face whoever called out to him. He looked from the wagon to her and waved a hand. "Well, I thought I'd go out and catch a few useful creatures--domestic type, mind you and I need this stuff t'make sure I can bring 'em back. That's the plan, at least. I reckon no tellin' how things'll really play out."

Marine nodded and shrugged lightly.

"Catching animals. Alroight. Um... what are you catching animals for, exactly?" she asked dubiously.

"For livestock, naturally. Don't know 'bout you, but I'd be happier'n a puppy with two tails if I had food that wasn't mostly from a can or came in dried form. 'Course my end-goal is t'be able to bake delicious pastries, but I ain't gonna turn down a plate of eggs in the mornin', if I can get m'hands on a few birds."

Rene had returned to looking around for resources, although she would occasionally stop and pull out a knitting project. She wasn't looking very hard.

"Ugh, so many knots..." She didn't know how Morris could do it. "This hat is going to be huge when I'm done." Maybe the space ape could wear it.

She folded it carefully and continued on, and it was less than a minute before she came across a guy dragging a wagon. "Oh, hi there!"

Rio slowed his pace to a crawl when he heard the greeting and turned to address the fellow resident. He didn't recognize her, but that didn't stop his own greeting from being an enthusiastic wave.

"Heya, friend! How goes yer afternoon?"

She waved as if he was further away than he was. "Pretty well. It's getting a little warmer out. What's with the wagon?"

"Thought I'd go catchin' a few animals so we could have some fresher ingredients 'round here," he explained, motioning to the contents in the wagon. "Eggs are a start. Eventually milk if we're lucky. Just bein' able to have and make cheese and butter." Rio sighed wistfully at the thought and tightened his grip on the wagon handle.

Rene didn't know anything about domesticating animals, but she knew what to do with the results. "Ooh, butter. Someone is making a garden, so we could have sauteéd vegetables..." She let out a noise that lay somewhere between a sigh and a moan. "Let me help! My friend Vicky says that it's best to find what animals eat and stalk them from there. But she's be after eating them directly. Boy, she sure loves boar..."

"I'd sure be honored if I had yer help. I've got a good way of gettin' 'em captured, but an extra set of hands is too useful to turn down."

He pondered Vicky's words for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Don't blame'er none, 'cause boar is delicious. I'm sure if the itty bitty farm takes off, we'll eventually eat some of 'em directly, too." At least, he knew he could tear through some Tauros burgers and meatballs.

"I was talking a few weeks ago with someone who mentioned bacon and we both started moaning. It was great." Rene had to laugh at her own account. "Where have you looked so far?"

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Baking Quest

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