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Skuld was apparently a lot stronger than she looked. Anora could only watch as the 17 year old quite easily pushed the 16 year old Ephemer out of the home economics kitchen. The boy's feet quickly skid across the floor, despite Ephemer trying his hardest to give some resistance against the linoleum.
"Get out my kitchen!" Skuld demanded without so much a hint of sympathy. "No one wants you here!"
"Technically," Ephemer argued, giving a small click of his tongue, "It's not yours. It's for home ec."
Skuld grunted as she worked to push Ephemer's feet over the metal transition strip at the doorway. "You know full and darn well what I mean," she huffed. "So get out!"
With one last shove, Ephemer let out a yelp in surprise as Skuld succeeded in tripping him over the doorway and out into the hall. Skuld gave him a satisfied snort before shutting the door in his face.
"Now with him out of the way," she triumphantly declared, brushing her hands off and giving a quick nod. "We can finally get down to business."
Anora, who was still stunned at Skuld's strength, only gave a short nod of agreement. The older student didn't seem to notice as she started to put on an apron, and pulled her hair back into a loose bun.
"We'll work so much faster without that mooch around." Skuld went on to say, more to herself than Anora proper. "We've got a bake sale this Saturday, and these pies aren't going to bake themselves."
The younger student, who had started to put on her own apron, paused for a moment. She looked up at Skuld with a skeptical raise of her eyebrow. The older happened to catch it out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't give me that look." she told Anora with certainty. "I help with every bake sale. I'm practically the sole contributor."
Anora's distrusting glare did not let up. In the back of her mind, Skuld made note to never be in a position to easily be guilt-tripped by Anora. That stare was rather powerful under the right conditions.
"I'm not working alone." Skuld then tried to assure her. "That's why you're here. Having Ephemer out of the picture also helps by, like, a lot. Trust me on this. We've got this."
With that being said, Skuld tossed Anora a hair net and the two started to get to work. Skuld has assigned Anora to pie filling duty while Skuld herself worked on the crust. The duo worked rather well together, making neat time in making a batch of apple pies that were soon placed in the oven. After Skuld had set the timer, she flipped to a new pie recipe in her cookbook and the girls started all over again. Anora was still working on the filling when Skuld finished placing the crust in the pie tins. Out of interest, the older student went through her cookbook to find the next pie recipe.
"I've got to go back to my dorm to get my other cookbook." Skuld announced, rather calmly, to Anora. "While I'm gone, I need you to do three things for me."
Anora, who was carefully placing the sweet potato mixture in the waiting pie crusts, looking up at Skuld and gave a nod.
"One," Skuld told her, flicking up her index finger. "The first round of pies should be done in about another five minutes. Turn the oven off, but don't pull them out yet. I want to check them when I get back."
Anora made a tentative look at the oven before turning her attention back to Skuld. She nodded, showing that she understood and was ready for Skuld to continue.
"Two," Skuld went on, bringing up another finger, "Feel free to start the filling for the next round of pies. The recipe book should still be open to that page."
That was something Anora figured she would do anyway. It was mentioned earlier that they were going to make apple, sweet potato, pumpkin, and chocolate pies today. She was already pouring the sweet potato filling into the pie crusts anyway. Starting work on the pumpkin pie filling would have been a snap.
"Three, and above all," Skuld finished, putting up one last finger, "Do not let Ephemer get an early taste. He knows he's not allowed to, and he knows the consequences if he does. I trust that you have the willpower to shoo him in my absence?"
Considering she hadn't seen Ephemer since Skuld first kicked him out, Anora gave the older student a confident nod in agreement.
"Good." Skuld nodded. "I'll be back quickly."
Once more, the younger of the two nodded and even gave a little wave as Skuld left. Anora continued to pour the filling into the pies, then washed the dishes off so she could use them for the next round of pies. Her concentration now spent on getting the pumpkin pie filling right, she didn't even notice that she was being watched.
Ephemer had been waiting for this moment. In fact, he had formulated a plan so perfect that it was nearly fool proof. It was such an incredibly simple plan too! All he had to do was softly walk up behind Anora, and calmly say to her;
"Hey Anora. What'cha making there?"
Anora let out a sharp gasp in surprise as she stumbled backwards, and right into Ephemer's arms. He laughed as he held her around her middle, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"It's pumpkin, right?" he then mused. "Can I have a taste?"
"Skuld said you can't."
Ephemer smirked. His moved his lips a bit closer to her ear to whisper, "But Skuld's not here." in a devious voice. It sent a shiver up Anora's spine that elicited a tiny whimper from her. A small flicker of fear crossed her mind for a moment; is this what Ephemer was like when he really turned his charm on? She wasn't ready for this. Skuld should have warned her about this!
"Come on Anora," he went on, one hand starting to reach for her bowl and the other trailing a bit lower down her midsection, "Just one little taste won't hurt..."
"Oh no you don't!" Skuld's voice demanded before Skuld herself gently hit Ephemer on the head with a rolling pin. "Get your hands off my assistant, or I'll report you to the headmasters for harassment!"
Ephemer gave a bemused snort before taking quite a few generous steps back from Anora. He turned to Skuld with a wide grin and said, "Well I hope you don't go to Gula- he'll want pictures."
"As if one look on poor Anora's face isn't enough proof that you're ridiculous."
Released from Ephemer's grasp, Anora quickly tried to return to working on the pie filling. Her face was flushing a deep scarlet as Skuld and Ephemer continued to chew eat other out.
"Just look at her, Ephemer!" Skuld huffed. "Poor girl's so embarrassed she can barely stir straight."
"Skuld, I hate to break it to you, but that isn't from embarrassment. I'd know. That's the face she makes when she's really-"
"Zip it! I don't need to know!"
"You started it."
"And now I'm ending it."
"Skuld, where's the next round of pie crusts?" Anora quickly squeaked, hoping to change the subject. It succeeded in distracting the two friends- they both turned to her as if they had forgotten she had been standing here. Skuld blinked for a moment before it hit her. She then went back to baking without a second thought. With Ephemer off the hook, he gave Anora a faint smirk before jumping onto the counter she as working at. His girlfriend tried very hard not to look at him- still embarrassed from his previous manhandling of her.
"The Dandelions are having a Halloween party amongst ourselves." Ephemer said to Anora. He feet gently kicking against the side of the counter. "Since it's on Saturday, would you like to be my date?"
Anora tilted her head a bit as she thought it over. Just the Dandelions? Which meant Ephemer, Skuld, Ventus, Brain, and Lauriam were going to be there. She knew them. She felt comfortable around them. She wondered of Strelitzia was going to be there too.
"I'd like that." Anora softly admitted. "But I don't have a costume."
"We can go search for one this weekend." Ephemer offered. "Maybe not this Saturday 'cuz of the bake sale (because someone won't let me have any taste tests!), but I'm totally free on Sunday."
A gentle smile crossed Anora's lips before she gave an agreeing nod. The young man relaxed a bit at seeing it. He'd do anything to protect that little smile of hers, even if it killed him inside.
"Now," Ephemer bemused as he reached for Anora's bowl again, "About that little taste test..."
"No!" Skuld shouted from across the kitchen, tossing a measuring spoon at his face. From the impact, and the surprise amount of wallop that little spoon had, Ephemer fell off the counter and ungracefully landed on the floor. Anora didn't even bother to hold back her light laughter.
"Not a word, dream girl." Ephemer hissed at her as he tried to stand back up. "Not a single word."
She never did, but she did openly laugh at his expense. It only seemed fair, after all.