Happy Halloween!
"Weiss, that's way too much salt!"
The comment caused Weiss to set down the shaker. By the time Yang spotted her, at least half of the turkey had been doused in the salty goodness.
"Salt completes our turkey creation," Weiss told her. "Without salt, our turkey is nothing."
Yang almost visibly facepalmed, utterly baffled. "Weiss- what? I don't get it. You're salty enough. Are you tryin' to spread your saltiness-"
"Quiet, brute!"
That was about their fifth squabble while making dinner. The rest of the crew had been patiently waiting at the dinner table. It felt like an eternity, but at last, the turkey was complete.
Weiss only made about four mistakes. Five counting the salt fiasco. Yang was impressed with her crewmate even if she didn't show it. Especially since turkey wasn't exactly a beginner's dish.
"Is it done?" Ruby asked, growing impatient. "Isitisitisitisit?"
Before they could answer, Ruby darted over to take a look. From the sight, she was drooling. Steam rose from the delectable meat. It was golden brown, practically begging to be eaten. The scent was so intoxicating that Ruby deeply inhaled and sighed in contentment.
"Ohmygoshitlooksdelish!" the captain exclaimed. "Are you sure you guys made this and not some imposters?"
Since it was known that Yang helped Weiss immensely, she decided to egg her on.
"Who said I need the brute's help?" Weiss asked with a smirk.
"Rude!" Yang exclaimed.
Lovingly, Ruby squeezed her girlfriend's hand. "I knew you could cook if you tried."
Fondly, Weiss squeezed back. "It was simple enough. Yang made it easier to understand, I'll admit."
In victory, Yang crossed her arms. "Darn right."
Since they'd been conversing rather than serving dinner, Qrow approached them to take a peak. It was a rather impressively sized turkey.
To praise them, Qrow rubbed Weiss and Ruby's heads. "Good work, kiddos."
When the girls smiled from the praise, Winter pondered her thoughts as she sat in her seat. Qrow treated her little sister well. Maybe even cared about her. She never thought she'd watch the man that irked her so much make her little sister smile.
That interaction alone spoke volumes to Winter. Her little sister was in good hands. No matter how much she didn't want to admit it. This was definitely her little sister's home.
"But it doesn't matter what it looks like, we gotta try it," Qrow said.
"Sit," Blake said to them. "I got this."
Casually, Blake grabbed the switchblade that was hidden in her stocking. She pressed the button, which caused it to flip out dramatically.
Ruby watched the display. "We have a kitchen cutting knife."
"It's more fun this way," the faunus replied as she expertly cut the delectable food. She only took a couple minutes while her crew watched in anticipation. "See? Quick and easy."
After that, Blake handed her crew their plates. While the Thorns dug in, Weiss watched her sister, waiting for a reaction. After Winter swallowed the first bite, the meat settled below as it simultaneously burst with flavor. In approval, she gazed at her little sister.
"It's good," Winter praised. "You did well."
Like a puppy that had been praised, Weiss grinned. If Winter said it was good, then it must be. Happily, Weiss tried the first bite and was pleasantly surprised. The food melted in her mouth.
"Thank you for teaching her, Yang," Winter praised.
"No prob!" Yang sent her a thumbs up and grimaced a bit. "It's good, but there's too much salt."
"The salt completes it," Weiss retorted.
Although this amount of salt didn't bother her much, Winter had to agree with Yang. "There is a little too much."
"Aha!" Yang pointed in victory. "Yang one, Weiss zero."
Blake only shrugged, a little indifferent. Her steaming plate was already halfway eaten.
"Mine needs more salt," the faunus chimed. "You didn't put on enough. I think you ruined it," she finished teasingly.
In response, Weiss crossed her arms. "I did no such thing."
"Mine needs salt, too," Ruby mentioned as she playfully nudged her girlfriend. "Did you drench one side and leave the other alone?"
"I tried to even it out!" Weiss yelped.
"That's exactly what she did," Yang said with a giggle. "I think she dumped the entire shaker on one half."
"Why you-"
Before another argument could break out, Qrow spoke as he stared at Winter.
"I can't believe the ice queen likes it."
From his experience, she was too picky. A perfectionist. It seemed like nothing was good enough for her. Instead of snapping back at Qrow, Winter ate another bite and folded her hands in her lap.
"Anything my sister makes, I like," Winter replied with simple reasoning, which caused Weiss to blush. "Except those cookies that one time," she finished with a smug grin.
From recalling that incident, Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. Just thinking about it made her feel embarrassed. "Why must you remind me?"
"I gotta know this story," Ruby chirped, excited to learn more about her girlfriend.
"You don't," Weiss said.
"I really do," Ruby replied.
"She does," Winter agreed.
"No, Win!" Weiss yelped.
Ignoring her, Winter began.
"Weiss was a curious child. She didn't take 'no' for an answer and liked to do things on her own. When she approached me and asked me to help her make cookies, I couldn't say no."
While she told the story, Weiss shyly glanced away.
"But most importantly, she loved Terry," Winter revealed, which earned perplexed expressions.
"Oh my god," Yang almost cooed. "Was it a stuffed animal?"
That earned a light laugh and Winter answered. "Terry was our longtime dog faunus servant."
"Oh," was all Yang said.
From the revelation, Blake's cat ears flicked. It wasn't news to her that the Schnee's owned slaves. But to hear her crewmate actually 'loved' one was unexpected. Especially at such a young, impressionable age.
Weiss looked guilty. Terry was a slave to Jacques now that she thought about it. A slave to the entire family.
"She wanted to be like Terry," Winter continued. "And Terry happened to make the best cookies Remnant can offer."
Ruby goofily grinned. "Terry clearly hasn't met my mom."
"Clearly," Yang agreed.
"It took us a while to find the ingredients since we've never baked before," Winter said. "Our servants did that for us. When we did find them, it took us forever to learn how to navigate the oven."
Until now, Qrow had his hand under his chin as he listened. "Children operating an oven. What could go wrong?"
All Weiss did was heavily sigh.
"Unbeknownst to me, Weiss had set the temperature double of what it should have been," Winter recalled fondly. "When the cookies had been baking for only five minutes, smoke had risen."
Blake shook her head in disapproval. "You burnt your kitchen down, didn't you?"
"She's getting to it," Weiss almost whined.
"Of course, we panicked and took out the cookies immediately," Winter informed. "They were charred black. Like lumps of coal."
"Did you eat 'em?" Yang had to ask.
"We couldn't even try them," Winter said as she leaned back. "The moment we took them out of the oven, the sprinklers were triggered."
"Oh my god," Blake couldn't help but mumble. "You flooded the house?"
Weiss hid her face into her hands.
"Cue all the servants rushing into the kitchen, trying to evacuate us from the premises," Winter said in amusement. "The incident cost us a hefty amount of gold."
Yang dropped her fork as a thud rang out. "Holy shit."
"Needless to say, we got in big trouble," Winter said. "But if you ask me, it was worth it."
Perplexed from her words, Weiss asked. "Why's that?"
They suffered at the hands of their father because of that. All for some charred, inedible cookies. That definitely wasn't worth it in Weiss' eyes.
"We had a grand time making them," Winter simply said. "You came to me for help and we spent hours making them, even though it should have been about half an hour."
Those words touched Weiss, and melted the hearts around her.
"Maybe it was worth it," Weiss agreed. "Even though we almost burned the house down."
"We never liked it, anyways."
Laughter echoed.
Yeeees they got Winter's approval! Without even trying!
Stay dandy,
~Toto
