[CLOSED]

[volleygenius]

Who: Marui and Leia
Which: Closed log
What: Dreamotion ability training followed by comfort and cuteness.
When: Afternoon and evening of Nov. 2nd
Where: Marui's treehouse
Warnings: None expected, will edit if needed

[ Marui's dreamotion abilities are not progressing well.

He isn't used to struggling with a new skill. He picks up on most things rather quickly. This, however, is quite simply a mystery. Maybe because it's so abstract? He's been able to do tennis and cakes with it like a true genius, but everything else has been a flop. The hot spring pool he made near his treehouse for bathing is uncomfortably small and shallow, and it occasionally mistakes itself for a geyser. His attempt to kill one of those giant termites with a bolt of lightning instead turned it into a particularly luminescent firefly. (On the upside, it's decided it lives with him and provides after-hours lighting around his house.) Bubble gum he'd thought for sure he could replicate as his supply dwindled to dangerously low levels, but the end result was too sticky to chew and popped while still in his mouth and that was great and interesting, perfect prank material, but not what he needed for everyday use.

He refuses to give up, though, especially in the aftermath of all that happened at that graveyard. He's determined to at least learn how to use it to protect himself and the people he cares for. And so now that he's given himself a one-day break to recover both physically and mentally from that ordeal, he's getting to work on that. Starting in the late morning outside his treehouse, he performs some warm-up stretches, rolls up his sleeves, and then... Well. This is about the part where he usually gets stuck. What should he try to do? In the end, what he most knows how to attack and defend with is still a tennis racket.

Well, no sense fixing what isn't broken. Time to invent some moves.

By the time lunch rolls around, Marui has worked up a decent appetite, and there is one thing and one thing alone that can satisfy him: cake. (Actually, some company would be nice too after spending all morning by himself, but hunger first.) Happily, cake conjuring is a dreamotion ability he's got down pat! He's even figured out how to conjure a platter for it to sit on now instead of the unfortunate (but admittedly hilarious) result of it splatting to the ground.

He takes a minute to imagine its shape, size, flavor, decorations, colors. It's easy with cake because he's seen, tasted, and baked so many. What would be really great right now is... yes. Perfect!

It's so real to him already-- the apple slices decorating the top; the warm and nutty aromas of maple, cinnamon, and pecan; how light and juicy it is inside with steaming apple pie filling between fluffy layers of spice cake! He's excited just thinking about it!

It feels like warm tingling at his fingertips. The cake realizes itself layer by layer, stacking higher and higher before disappearing inside a warm off-white encasement of frosting. Red-skinned apple slices radiate from the center on top in symmetry. Candied pecans line the base and accent the apple slices on top. An orange maple leaf pattern wraps around the side. ]

Yahoi! [ He cheers when it's done, and eagerly carves out a slice. ]

Comments

[ragingscoopaholic]

[Well, okay. She's not sure what answer she expected.]

... And what if it wasn't done exploding?

[volleygenius]

[ Marui grins. ]

Relax. It's just one taste.

[ragingscoopaholic]

All right. Let's hope you don't find out.

[And yet she may be a little touched that he dared to try it. Even if he didn't mean anything by it.]

[volleygenius]

More to the point, don't you have another one to make? I'm waiting here.

[ragingscoopaholic]

Shouldn't we clean up the table first?

[volleygenius]

We?

[ragingscoopaholic]

[That single word alone wounds her deeply.]

Awww, seriously? Don't suppose you gotta dreamotion skill for that, by any chance?

[volleygenius]

Dreamotion skill, huh? Wouldn't that be handy. Imagine waving your arms around and the cleaning taking care of itself.

[ That's a No. ]

[ragingscoopaholic]

Right!? We should totally come up with one!

[He IS looking at the same explosive mess that she is, right? The one that's going to take a single person all day to clean, right? Plus, wow, imagine never having to clean her room again.]

[volleygenius]

You're welcome to try.

[ragingscoopaholic]

You wouldn't want to figure it out with me?

[She did just explode a cake, is he really willing to hand over the reins to her for this?]

[volleygenius]

My dreamotion practice is getting invested elsewhere. Besides... that's not my mess to deal with.

[ Look, this is just an entertaining adventure for him. If this leads to another epic failure, well, that's okay with him. ]

[ragingscoopaholic]

You really suck, you know that? Fine. But if half your house goes missing, just remember this is partially on you.

[Of course, she's teasing him about sucking. Except he does. Kinda.]

[volleygenius]

[ Marui grins; yeah, he knows he's being a pain in the ass to her, and he has no regrets. It's good to see her seeming more herself. ]

If half my house goes missing, I'll find another one.

[ragingscoopaholic]

Ugh, you're impossible!

[Hmph. He is beyond a pain in the ass. But, in a way, she's more focused on him being utterly obnoxious and trying to get this table cleaned that she hardly has time to dwell on certain things.

She takes a deep breath, then gently punches her open palm, trying to get herself pumped.]

Okay, so the steps are probably similar to creating a cake. Guess I should start by visualizing an empty table. Hmm... and then how it becomes empty...?

[She's not looking for commentary, just thinking out loud.]

[volleygenius]

[ Marui settles down on a spot of grass to watch, looking perfectly relaxed with his arms propping up his half-reclined lounge. He's paying attention, though-- and not just because the results could be entertaining. He's also interested in learning through observation. It's actually a neat idea Leia's got, and if it can be done, he wants to be able to do it, too. Leia is helpfully thinking it through aloud, letting him take in not just what she's doing but what she's thinking in the process. ]

[ragingscoopaholic]

[Thinking, thinking, thinking...]

I need something I can visualize that'll clean all this cake off. But what...?

[With how the cake is strewn all over, even if they did have things like towels and cloths, she'd go through too many of them. Now, if there was a hose...

Oh. Wait.]

Yeah, water! And we're outside, so the rain could wash it all away! Just gotta make sure it only rains right over the table. And if I can get a cake to materialize in a specific spot, then making it rain in that same spot shouldn't be that difficult.

[Perfectly sound logic to her. It makes total sense. Just got to put it into action now.]

All right! Time to get serious, Leia!

[volleygenius]

[ When Marui sat down to watch, what he envisioned was something more like enchanting a bunch of dishrags and mops that would move as though controlled by a crew of invisible workers, like in that one cartoon movie he saw as a kid.

As Leia continues her stream of consciousness monologue, it becomes increasingly evident that she's taking this in a very different direction. Marui sits up. His train of thought proceeds thusly:

Wait, she's gonna do this with rain?

She's gonna create rain.

It's a chilly November afternoon.

Has she thought this through...?

Of course she hasn't, she's been sharing every thought aloud already.

This is gonna end badly.

But trying to talk her out of it is probably a waste of energy.

Well, experience is the best teacher after all. Guess I'll be sharing my jacket again.

Here we go. ]

[ragingscoopaholic]

[She closes her eyes to help with the visualization. There's the exploded cake mess all over the table. And now the rain. She imagines the clouds churning overhead, picking up speed, growing darker...

A low rumble is heard up above. She's got the clouds moving. Then the rain soon follows- sprinkles at first, barely anything. One by one they increase in quantity, the rain falls harder before the sky, so to speak, opens up, and it quickly becomes a torrential downpour.

Right over the table. It remains contained within a small radius.

... Which includes where Leia is standing.

The cake is very quickly washed away, along with Leia's pride.

But as the rain slowly comes to a stop, she turns around, completely soaked, not the first time he's seen her like this, and smiles sheepishly.]

See? The table's all clean now!

[And sneezes.]

[volleygenius]

[ Marui's gaze travels skyward when the rumbling starts. He'll credit her this: her plan works exactly as it was intended to do. Gave her a shower, too, which isn't a complete downside considering she was as covered in cake as the table. Still, if she was cold after their fishing adventure two months ago, she's gotta be freezing this time. She'll catch a cold for sure if she's out here for long.

Then she has to go and smile at him like that and punctuate it with a sneeze and honestly, how does anyone manage to be so cute while being such a disaster? It takes a special kind of perverse talent to achieve that. He scoffs and stands up with a smile of approval. ]

So you did. Congratulations. So, let's master this quickly. Follow my lead.

[ He walks over to stand beside Leia and facing the table. Clearing the table to learn to do this meant enough to her that she was willing to get herself soaked in this nippy weather. He won't let that dedication go to waste. ]

First, decide on your cake. What are you gonna do?

[ragingscoopaholic]

[Good. He gets it. No time to stop now, time to make a cake or freeze to death! She's not going to freeze to death.

She rolls up her sleeves.]

Chocolate!

[volleygenius]

Just chocolate?

[ He asks in a tone that says Yes is the correct answer. ]

[ragingscoopaholic]

[There's a moment of hesitation as she quietly bids a fond farewell to the gummy worms she was totally going to sneak in there.]

Just boring old chocolate.

[volleygenius]

It's not boring! This is gonna be the best chocolate cake you've ever had. [ Hear the energy in his voice? He means that. ]

Now, think about making it. You need eggs, flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, and vegetable oil for the cake. Butter, cream cheese, more cocoa powder, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a little milk for the frosting.

And chocolate pudding. That's going between the cake layers. Got all that?

[ragingscoopaholic]

[Him being fired up is getting her all fired up. And, hello, pudding??? One of her favourite types of cake. It takes several seconds to get down all the ingredients, mentally repeating each one he says after he says it. Committing each one to memory.

She's super pumped now! Despite the cold setting in.]

Got it! I'm gonna make the hell out of this chocolate pudding cake!