Disclaimer: Don't own Sword Art Online (I or II), or any of it's characters.
Rating: T
Yet more fluff; what can I say?
RL
January 12th, 2031
Home
"Hmmhmm-hm-hmm-hmm-hmmhmm, hmmhmm-hm-hmm-hmm-hmmhmm."
Yui made a sound, but smiling- humming that Rudolph song sure was different than saying the words. But it had a nice tune all it's own, and a nice way to pass the time while she cooked, at least what she knew how to make anyway.
"I'm learning quickly, but only more practice will help."
Stirring the soup, she could feel the rising heat on her hand, and she made a sound- it was warm, but a little much. Yui wondered if this was what it was like to feel a 'burn', but thought maybe not; it was merely uncomfortable, not hurting, so maybe this was a different sensation. Of course she didn't wish to intentionally hurt herself, but not knowing the burn sensation made her nervous for some reason, as if it could happen at any moment like this. Not on purpose or anything like that, but accidentally, as seems to happen a lot no matter which reality you were in. But then again, she'd experienced this same sensation underneath the shower water sometimes, as adjusting the temperature was really imprecise sometimes.
And even though it could be hot, her body handled it well enough... but the temperature of flames would be a different story.
So definitely keeping her movements careful!
Yui made a sheepish sound, before pulling the spoon out, tasting- mmh... good, but could use salt. Then she smiled, thinking of all the steps, and how the taste changed from beginning to end; no wonder you should always test-taste at certain steps, or it might turn out wrong!
"Hehe" she giggled, happy. "One day, I'll be as skilled as mommy."
But until then, she was getting the experience and results into her muscle memory, in addition to making lunch hehe. The longer she worked though, the more she became aware of a certain 'pressure' in her lower body, which she slowly made a face to.
So gross... virtual reality is definitely better in that regard, not having to deal with this at all...
Still, after carefully stirring the soup again, it needing a few more minutes, she quickly went upstairs to take care of her 'issue'.
...
A little later
"Hmm..."
So Yui hummed, reading as she ate - maybe it was harder to do both at the same time, but if she was careful, she could do it. And Yui had to admit, these fictional series were so fascinating to read, creating worlds as detailed as Aincrad itself had been! The one she's on right now involved, well, what they seemed to call 'Greek gods', which admittedly she had no clue about. Still, they talked about them having having existed for thousands of years, which made her think they were an actual mythology from the real world, while this book expanded upon that in a unique way. And it did seem to be unique, mixing elements of the original mythology with the real 'modern' world, which made an interesting mix, despite her newcomer status to it all.
The gods were jerks though...
Anyway, she continued to read, sipping before her spoon hit the bottom of the bowl - jolting, Yui looked back, before finding that she'd finished her soup. She went 'Oh', looking between the book and the bowl; how did this always go by so fast?
It's like the more excited you are, the faster time goes, and vice-versa.
Still, carefully using a straw wrapper as a bookmark, Yui put it down before reaching for the bowl... except she misjudged her muscles' approach, and accidentally knocked it over! It landed on the 'bottom' and at an angle, sliding across the floor even as she freaked, before quickly getting out of her chair!
After a tense minute looking for cracks, she just breathed out, heavily relieved; it was okay!
"Oh good" Yui breathed faintly, slowly getting up from her knees - she just weakly put it on the 'dirty' side of the sink, glad that nothing serious had happened. "That could have been really bad" she continued to herself, knowing that while mommy + daddy wouldn't have been mad (it had been an accident), she'd still have felt bad for damaging it.
"That was lucky."
Making a sound, she then glanced back at the table, wondering if she wanted to keep reading-
Huh?
Yui gasped, just seeing outside the window near the table; it was snowing again! She raced over there, looking outside with happy wonder, giggling at the thought of playing in it- oh! Wait, what about the driveway? Umm... uh, it still had that light spread on it from the past few days, but now it was snowing rather heavily, and looked like it might do so for awhile. That meant that by the time it's done, it could get really thick, would make it hard for mommy and daddy to get up the driveway. Not wanting that to happen, Yui thought about if she should wait for the snow to stop, or if she should shovel now. She didn't mind the work too much, especially since it helped build her muscles, but would doing so be rendered pointless by this heavy snow?
Mmh, at worst, maybe - but it'd still be helpful, and bonus, she'll get to be around the snow again!
"Hehe, sounds good either way!"
/
Around the same time
Hospital
"I'm sure you can make it when we get home."
"I didn't say I couldn't; I just haven't had a lot of practice."
"What about in ALO?"
"You know that's different; things are done for us, and sped up."
Kazuto hummed, tasting his drink again before he resumed stretching his muscles; his usual routine at work, whenever he took the required breaks and what not. After all, he was diving for hours and hours at a time, and he wanted to make sure his body didn't degenerate too badly (in addition to the usual workouts). "So, you're saying you'd like some help?" he asked, more mild now.
Asuna got a little confident smirk, filing some papers. "Of course" she answered, stamping something, "Thank you for volunteering, Kazuto."
Perhaps he should've been surprised, slightly put off that she'd 'volunteered' him without his permission, even with the offer, but he strangely didn't feel that way. Going with it, he glanced upward with a smile, thinking carefully... still, his lack of outward reaction didn't go unnoticed.
"What, no protest?" Asuna asked, genuinely surprised.
He slowly breathed out, but content now. "Maybe I would have normally" he admitted, looking at her. "It's kinda strange that I didn't. But despite that, right now I'm imagining Yui's reaction - and it's making me feel content."
A moment passed, before her surprise give way to a warm smile. "We both know how she's gonna react, but I bet once it happens, it'll be like we didn't expect it at all" she said softly. "Sensation-wise, at least."
"I hope so; those are the best" he said, completely sincere.
A slight sound, but Asuna's smile remained - whatever they talked about, they always liked these mid-work conversations, as she was always here whenever he emerged from diving via 'rest'. "Still though, if you're gonna help me, do we still want Yui watching?" she asked, "Or do we want it to be a surprise this time?"
"Well, given what we just said, I think a truly-curious reaction will be even better" he said, imaging it already.
A hum: "Okay then."
Home
Around dinnertime
Yui made a sound, trying to sneak a peek but having to stop herself, for the third time too.
She was really curious about this; mommy always cooked good food, of which she had no doubts right now, but having it be a surprise only made her more curious! Daddy had playfully stated it'd be worth the wait, and also hinted that while it may not be a regular thing here at home, she should know about this food, because it seemed to be commonly-known among other people.
And so she wondered, 'hmm'ing.
"Kazuto, hand me the cheese."
"Got it."
Hmm, so it had cheese in it - Yui smiled, remembering the mac & cheese.
Considering it complimented milk so well, she had no problems with eating more hehe, though she considered how it would go with bread (one other ingredient she'd managed to hear), and differently from 'grilled' cheese. Oh she wanted so much to know now, and couldn't even concentrate on her book, because of the excitement! Though of course, when mommy + daddy bring out this new dish, she would put the book away of course; she didn't want to be rude, even if she knew they wouldn't mind that much. Well that, and of course she'd be so focused on enjoying the food, that she couldn't focus on it anyway... the thought made her giggle a fair bit.
/
Asuna heard that giggle, but smiled; whatever Yui was thinking about, it must no doubt be related to this. Her curiosity was boundless, and no doubt this must be 'killing' her to wait- but it'd be well worth it.
"Okay, a little more spread-out" she told Kazuto, who obliged - she did the same on her half, making sure the grated cheese was properly set upon the bread + tomato sauce. "And... half-done."
"Now my turn" he added, Asuna nodding, handing him the heavy oven mitts- he'd already had the thing set to high for awhile. This would help make sure it cooked at the proper temperature, and cut the time down to about ten minutes. While Kazuto pulled them on, she'd carefully prepared the tray, which he then picked up with one hand, making sure to keep it balanced. The other hand quickly opened the oven up quickly, but he made a sound at the waves of heat, even as she stood clear - quickly as he could, he slid it inside before quickly shutting it.
"Ahh, okay" Kazuto breathed, quickly discarding the oven mitts. "Even with these things, I could still feel that heat."
"Well, I did warn you" she told him, hands on her hips. "But you're the one who wanted to try heating it up this way, Kazuto."
He was slightly sheepish, but with a little smile. "Okay, so I learned my lesson... don't ever prepare it without extreme caution" he breathed, only slightly mild - she noticed that, before she touched his shoulder. "Don't worry, I got it" he added, in response to this. "For real."
Asuna returned the smile a little more. "I hope so" she said, soft and slightly playful; his lip curved more in response. "Still, you can keep watch on the timer, while I finally go tell Yui some details about what she's gonna eat."
It wasn't long before that same little girl gasped, giggling with excitement.
Kazuto glanced that way, but his smile was soft. "Any longer, and she might've gone mad with waiting" he said playfully, but leaning against the counter. "Go on, tell her before that happens."
In answer, Asuna stuck her tongue out, but did so anyway.
As expected, Yui was similar to how she'd sounded seconds ago. "I could hear what you said" she said, a little teasing too, but mainly happy. "You really tried to keep it a secret all throughout, but you let little things slip by."
Asuna laughed, sitting down near her daughter. "Those slips were intentional, to make sure you could at least guess" she said, "but either way, I think you'll love it, as many other people do."
"What is it then, mommy?"
"Well, we call it 'pizza'."
Yui tilted her head, blinking, but curious.
She just smiled, hands in front of her. "The basic dish is this: we prepare dough in a certain way, which becomes bread, about this big at medium size" she said easily, demonstrating with her hands; the little girl was quite surprised. "It's served either circular, or as a square, but the former's most common + recognized. Then this bread is saturated with hot melted cheese and tomato sauce-"
"Ahhhh!" Yui breathed, so excited it was nearly infectious. "Wow, that sounds so good already!" she cheered, before leaning forward, "But you said 'main' mommy; does that mean it can have more ingredients in it!?"
"Most definitely" Asuna answered, equally happy. "Pizza is frequently topped with things according to the person's taste buds, including cut-up meats, vegetables, other condiments - pepperoni, a small meat slice, is a common one too."
Yui had a bit of curiosity over that, but grinned. "Well, I can learn about those later" she said easily, giggling. "Right now, I'm soon to taste the main thing itself. Bring on this 'pizza'!"
"Easy over there, Yui" Kazuto called, a little mild + playful. "It'll be done soon, but it's still gonna take a few minutes."
Their daughter made a face, but it was partly 'marred' by the excitement.
Asuna just laughed. "And in that time, we've noticed that you shoveled today" she added afterward, "Everything went okay?"
A little surprised, Yui just nodded. "It took some time, but I got it done" she stated, a little proud-
-she was glad to hear it.
/
Sure, daddy said a few minutes, but those seemed to be longer than normal! And that included when she talked with mommy.
It was with excitement as she watched him carry a big tray, though he held it with oven mitts; must be really hot then, and fresh too. Mommy made a little room by moving their glasses and such, before daddy set the tray down, right upon the middle of the table - Yui breathed out in curiosity, seeing this 'pizza' was indeed circular, though a little uneven in circumference. Well, maybe mommy hasn't cooked this as much as other things? She giggled mentally, but didn't care, knowing it would still be delicious anyway. The crust also did look like bread, as far as the outer ring, but the rest was buried under the other ingredients - alternatively white and red, she thought those must be the 'melted' hot cheese and tomato sauce.
Then daddy cut into it with some sort of rotating sharp-edge utensil, slicing it in half, then again down another angle, and another. She looked at mommy, who nodded, before reaching out - the first touch was tentative, and she made a sound. "It's a little hot" she said, but gentle, "If it's too much, wait a minute for it to cool off some."
Curious now, Yui reached for it herself, slowly of course- it was hot to the touch, especially on the half-second-long one! She found herself instinctively sucking on her finger, before she realized this, confused.
Daddy had an understanding smile, and didn't tease her about it. "Don't worry, Yui; that's a normal reaction" he said easily.
Relieved, Yui smiled back.
That minute seemed to go by quickly though, with daddy brief-touching the crust, before he smiled and used his whole hand, pulling a slice for himself- she literally saw the strands of melted cheese snap, and watched closely how he held + handled it. When mommy did similar, she saw clearly that this really was a food to eat your hands-
-but wasn't that rude?
Mommy laughed when she asked, and daddy looked to be stifling the same. "Not exactly rude, but it's not the best dinner behavior either" she admitted, "However, some foods can only be properly eaten with your hands, like pizza."
Whew, hehe - with that concern out of the way, she eagerly dug out a slice for herself! It was really really warm to the touch, and though it was her first one, she tried to hold it like her parents, point-first.
"Dig in" daddy announced mildly, before literally eating the point, just like she'd thought- mommy soon followed suit.
Eager herself, Yui opened her mouth and carefully bit into the point, mindful of the heat-
It was like an explosion of flavor: the cheese was familiar to her taste buds, but combined with the tomato sauce and the bread, gave it another entirely different quality! The heat of the pizza made it even better too, intensifying things a lot, and she shook with excitement as she savored the bite!
-"Mmhhmm, oh yes!" she cheered, laughing. "Mommy, you're the best!"
Because she was still eating, mommy couldn't talk, but her smile was as soft + warm as she'd even seen, though she had bits of sauce on her face too (that she mindlessly wiped at).
"No praise for me helping mommy out, Yui?"
Yui giggled. "Of course, daddy!" she continued, happy even as she munched another bite. "Was this your idea as well?"
Daddy gave off a little smile, "Yeah, it was" he said softly, briefly licking his lips for the extra flavor. "I thought that eventually you might run into this dish, so I wanted to make sure you had a proper taste. And more than that, your reactions are always cute to watch."
"Not 'weird' cute, right?" she asked, but gentle; just a little tease hehe.
He laughed, recognizing this. "No, of course not" he said mildly, but still smiling, "just regular cute, Yui; it's adorable."
She giggled, feeling even warmer, and not just because of the pizza's heat. Beside her, mommy touched daddy's hand, no doubt sharing her own warmth for what he said (and her eyes seemed to shine too) - he returned it, in that little way he did.
Yui loved it, all of this.
^Had to come across that food at some point hehe ;)
