Bake Fail!

Of course, if they wanted to see the peacock, they’d have to wait and be patient. Not that he was worried if they did or not. Oh it’d be nice, but the real joy was spending time with Maya. 

Soseki leaned over to get a look at the picture of Klaus’ head, his hand resting on her shoulder, hair brushing against her cheek. The rock really did look like the back of his head! It made him chuckle. “We should take him the rock too. He could put it up in his office and then he won’t be lonely.” Soseki wouldn’t, but the look on Klaus’ face would be priceless.

       “Oooh yeah, I bet I’m just the prettiest armrest you ever had~” Tone teasing, her face lit up with a joyous blush. But wait? Maya’s gaze fell once again to the screen as she flipped through the pictures. Soseki was right! All these photos, and not a single one was of them!  

       “How did we forget to get one of us?!” Unacceptable! The problem needed to be remedied right away. Snuggling close to him, Maya’s arm looped around Soseki’s waist while the other lifted the camera high above them.

       “Okay, are you ready? One, two, three, cheese~” Maya’s face dimpled with a toothy smile as the shutter clicked. She lowered the camera again to check the screen.

       ...Only to find that while her face was perfectly in frame, the only visible parts of Soseki were his arms and shoulders. Well, there was only one solution to this.

        War and Glory, Reinvention.

                    Fusion, Freedom, Her Attention.                    

Out in Daylight, my POTENTIAL! 

                                         Bold, Precise, Experimental!

     The immediate words–“ Ya- hoo ! “– were followed only seconds later by a single, gigantic s p l a s h as he jumped from the nearby rocks into the deep, blue water that engulfed him the moment he landed. Any warnings that had been told to him beforehand had been completely forgotten as he rose back up to the surface, mercilessly shaking his head to get rid of any water that might’ve threatened to enter his eyes.

       “Eek! Oh my gosh it’s so cold!” Her cheeks flushed as she bounced from foot to foot, toes curling with each hop. Fortunately, the summer sun warmed her quickly enough. Just in time for a blue head to surface again and fling even more water at her—much like a wet dog shaking out its fur.

       “Luuuke!” Maya squealed with laughter. She raised her hands in vain attempt to block the spray, but at his coaxing she finally turned back and smiled.

       “Okay, okay!” Maya took a deep breath, her cheeks puffing out as she held it. Pinching her nose, she jumped off the dock feet-first. The chill of the ocean seemed to shock her entire body. Maya stayed down for as long as she could before her head bobbed up again with a gasp.

This was his ideal afternoon. Next to Maya, spending time with her, maybe reading. He wouldn’t be opposed to going out either. There were a bunch of interesting rumors to follow up on in the area and beautiful sites to see. He’d love to see them all with Maya.

“Isn’t it~?” The corners of her mouth lifted into a smile as she raised the horse conch higher. A lovely shell that almost seemed painted with pastel yellows and pinks, it was rather big compared to the tiny coin-sized ones Maya usually found.

“Someone told me that you can hear the ocean in it, but...” Her eyebrows came together in a small frown. She’d been listening for the sound of the sea for the last few minutes, but only in vain. Maya shook her head, quickly lifting the conch to the girl’s ear instead. 

     “The only thing clouding my judgement is hunger.”

“Alright then! We’d better hurry up!” It was legit enough for him, he had never used measurements to begin with. His way to measure things was more extreme. It included more gesturing than anything but Maya needed a couple of pounds. Therefore that probably meant she needed a lot, right?

However, he was forbid from heading on head-first into the forest by a few simple words. Luke frowned at her words, “I guess? “ Was this a secret? He was happy to be able to be part of it, if that were the case, but why him?? Surely Maya knew he wasn’t good at keeping secrets, right???

All of that train of thinking stopped the moment he was pulled down, and had the ‘secret’ whispered in his ear. The moment she let go, the carpenter stood back up, giving her the most confused (and maybe slightly amused) expression he could master. 

“Witch? Maya trust me, there’s no witch in here. I’ve been tons of times and have never seen a single thing.” Wait no, that wasn’t true. He had seen something, a small hut in the middle of a pond. But there was absolute no way that could’ve been the witch Maya was talking about. The woman that lived in there was pretty, and witches were supposed to be ugly and scary.

Maya could do nothing but glance over her shoulder as Luke dragged her away, watching as her axe became smaller and smaller in the distance. Ah well, it's not like she actually needed it. What was more frustrating was how easily Luke managed to take her arm. Since when was he so big?! More importantly, since when did Maya forget to notice how tall he was getting? He was supposed to wait for her to catch up!

"Luke," she said, pulling her arm away and planting her feet stubbornly in the ground.

"What you need to realize here is that I," Maya put her palm over her chest to indicate to herself, "am a lady now. That means a lot of things. Two of those things are: one, you don't grab my arm suddenly, and two, when I say there might be a witch, we investigate." 

Three, he should kneel down a little bit so she wouldn't have to look up at him when she talked, but Maya left this part out. It was really nice of her to go easy on him and not overwhelm him with too many new rules at once.

"C'mon, please~?" Maya's voice softened a bit, and she gave him a small smile. "I mean, wouldn't it be fun to explore a little? I almost never get to come into the woods." 

      The Harvest Goddess had received many prayers regarding the new year, visitors coming to her spring amidst their preparations for the coming celebration, and she was delighted that their prayers would not go without answer this year. Her power and the land were restored, leaving her able to bless the coming year.

Maya stood in front of the Goddess, bowing her head slightly as she fiddled with the hem of her dress. 

"N-No... I mean, yes, but um..." How awkward. Maya didn't come here alone when she visited, or come to the springs often at all. She used to visit more when she was younger, usually in tow of her grandmother. But coming all the way to the mining district, and then have to walk through a trail in the forest... it was no easy task for someone who was aging. These days Yolanda just prayed to the bells like most people. 

“Well whaddya know… Those would look mighty fine - but, maybe you should practice with the coffee and not the paper? I bet if ya did, you’d be perfect in no time.”

He didn’t want to be TOO rude about it, because really they didn’t look too good on paper at all… of course, he chalked that up to her being excited and in a rush to show off her ideas. He loved that about people - He took a closer look at them, and tried to picture them on the top of a cup of coffee and, they wouldn’t be so bad. 

"Um, drawing puppies in the foam still seems kind of advanced for me..." she admitted with a sheepish smile. "But you're right! Totally right! Practicing in actual coffee would be better..." At this she seemed to deflate slightly, her shoulders drooping. 

"The thing is, not a lot of people order coffee around here. And when they want drinks, they usually go to the bar." Which was a shame, because beverages (like making hot chocolate from powder or putting ingredients in a blender) happened to be one of the very few culinary activities Maya was decent at.