Cookie Cooking

(8:00 PM)

"It's time for 'Irv & Alley's Variety Show'," said Annie reading off the cue cards Tim held. "Today, we'll have a cook off. In this corner—from the terrorist group, Odessa—we have Caina and Antenora. And in this corner—from Agile Remote Missions Squad or ARMS for short—we have Kanon and Marivel."

Both groups walked to opposite stoves. They had been asked to help Irv and Alley put on a show for everyone. Altaecia had borrowed Ashley's camcorder to record the show for him and Marina to see.

"Ready everyone, here are the rules," said Alley. "Both teams will make a batch of cookies and whoever makes the best ones will win. Ready, set, go."

Both teams started. Kanon was confident in making at least a decent batch, since she learned to make them so she could give Annie a treat now and then. So she had Marivel—who had no experience doing domestic work—dictate the recipe to her while she did the measurements and put the ingredients into the bowl.

Antenora and Caina fared somewhat worse. "What is this cooking about? I think those brats should stop playing Star Ocean 2," whined Antenora.

Caina yelled, "Shut up. That's just making things worse." Then, she stuck out her tong.

Antenora got mad. She picked up the yeast and threw it at Caina. The bag exploded, and most of it ended up in the mixing bowl.

"Oh well," said Caina. "What harm could this do?"

Annie turned towards the camera and said, "While we wait, let's go to the set of 'Pooka's Playhouse'." they took the camera to the bedroom, where Pooka was surrounded by learning toys.

(9:30 PM)

After and hour and a half of waiting, the cookies were done. Actually, Kanon and Marivel's were done earlier, but Caina and Antenora kept fighting. As a direct result, they not only finished later, but had a good deal of extra ingredients in the bowl.

"Alright, let's take 'em out," said Antenora. She opened the oven, and screamed.

Everyone ran into the kitchen. Then, they saw a giant blob of cookie rising from the oven. Altaecia was getting it all on tape, while Vinsfeld made a dork of himself trying to save Antenora from the firocious 'Cookie Demon'.

It was then that Lilka saw the empty yeast package on the counter. She burst out laughng. "Didn't you two know that yeast makes bread rise. That's why you don't make cookies with yeast in them."

Antenora and Caina blushed deeply. Then, they joined the others in a laugh.

(10:00 PM)

Kanon finished putting the kids to bed. It had been a late night for all of them, and they were happy for sleep. She went downstairs, where everyone was relaxing with relief.

Tim was still helping Lilka comb through the mess in the kitchen. They were trying to save the 'Cookie Demon' from the stove, so they could eat it. The dead people were again playing Monopoly—with Vinsfeld gagged so's not to wake up the kids. Brad had fallen asleep on a couch, and Marivel was practicing her singing outside.

Suddenly, thunder clapped in the distance. Vinsfeld tore off his gag and prayed to Noua Shaxx that the kids weren't afraid of storms. Antenora stifled her laughter at this.

Just then, Tim and Lilika came in with a huge mess of cookies on a platter. "Let's dig in," they said.

12 hands reached for cookies—Brad was still sleeping and Marivel was outside, but Pooka claimed one—and stuffed them in their mouths. Then, they were spit out in disgust. Because things had just been thrown in, the batch was way out of proportion.

Kanon sighed for the umpteenth millonth time that night. "Well that was sure…interesting," she said.

(10:30 PM)

In came Ashley and Marina, soaked to the bone. They looked from the still messy kitchen, to the half finished Monopoly game, to the spilled spices, to the stray makeup, and finally to our weary heroes.

"You're home early," said Kanon. "We had no time to clean up."

"The party was cancelled on account of rain," said Marina.

A shocked Ashley asked, "What happened here? What's with this mess? And why are there ghosts in my living room?

So the gang told the whole story, from the tea party all the way to the video. After they finished, Ashley and Marina burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Irving.

"Well," said Ashley, "I thought I told you they loved to play pranks." When he saw the looks on the faces of his comrades, he said, "I guess not."

"It was exciting though," said Kanon. "Annie never makes any trouble, and my situation limits the places I can go, lest I die and leave my baby all alone, so life can get dull. Let's all look on the bright side."

"In that case, would you mind babysitting again next month?" asked Marina.

The dead people groaned. Vinsfeld said, "Oh look at the time, gotta go. Wish we could make arrangements, but we left our Monopoly board out." They held up their left arms, and vanished.

Kanon chuckled. "Well, I better get Annie and return to our room at the inn. Before I skip town tomorrow, I'll introduce her to you." She then went upstairs.

"Anyone else wanna baby-sit?" asked Ashley. But they all had run outside into the storm. One time watching the terror twins was one time too many for them.

Kanon came downstairs with Annie—who was still sleeping—riding piggyback. "Bye Ashley, bye Marina. I'll see you later," she said. Then, she left as well.

Irv and Alley watched from the doorway. They laughed at how fast their sitters left. "Another job well done," Irv told Alley. Then, they returned to their rooms to await morning.

Well, if you haven't figured out by now, Kanon is my favorite character. The cook off mini games in Suikoden and Star Ocean 2 inspired this chapter. I also credit this chapter on baking our yearly Christmas cookies. I get inspiration for stories by acting out different ideas as my favorite character in the game. I even have props like an eye patch, fake weapons, and several types of pendants for such occasions. I was doing that while baking with my mom, and suddenly the idea hit me. Well, I've rambled on enough. See ya next fanfic.