OUR HOUSE

[saltwaterlungs]

CHARACTERS: Phil, Dimitri, Darcy, Ruby, the Venom Symbiote, and you!
DATE: June
LOCATION: The farmhouse on 499 Winter's Avenue
SITUATION: Home-making and housewarming
WARNINGS: Usual warnings for all characters involved but otherwise n/a

I'll light the fire, you place the flowers in the vase (Closed to phil/dimitri/ruby/venom)

Moving out of the Oak and Iron has been on Darcy’s mind- well. Virtually since she got to Pumpkin Hollow. But with Phil back and all, they started making plans for it in earnest. A combination of saving up and mysterious brass from some old dude fairy (??? she isn’t asking too many questions) means that they have the means. All they have to do is do it.

The week prior to the housewarming is spent working in and around the construction of a couple of new rooms, subdivided up from the old floor plan. Paint, wallpaper, fresh fabric to reupholster some of the furniture, a lot of cleaning. Plus there’s the logistics of moving all their stuff, which is significantly harder without cars and on an island that’s bigger than one ship. Darcy doesn’t even have that much shit, it just all stacks up somehow.

She spends her time mostly between generally assisting the move, setting up the kitchen, and putting her room together once they’ve finished building it. Darcy can be found doing any of those three things.

Rest your head for just five minutes, everything is done (Open)

It’s not going to be the shindig to end all shindigs, but once the dust has settled and everyone’s recovered from moving everything around, friends and family will get a call inviting them over. All the windows are open for the mild Summer night air, the curtains drift a little in the breeze, and the song of crickets can be heard from anywhere in the house. The lights inside the house are warm and cheery, and seem to beckon you in, the shadows around them seeming… darker, somehow.

There’s lemonade with some Phil-made ice cubes in it, and Darcy hasn’t moved from the kitchen in service of making canapes to feed anyone who shows up. Cold cuts on bread, sandwiches with cucumbers left over from the carnival, small fish cakes. It’s a good way to break the kitchen in. When the food has been made, Darcy sets up out the front on the porch, curled up with some lemonade on one of the chairs, looking out into the night and making some small greeting to anyone who approaches.

Life used to be so hard, now everything is easy cause of you

[wildcard!]

Comments

[maximumcake]

"You have a point." No, no, she's right. When your dog is made of bread pretty much every rule goes right out the window.

"Did you know Crumpet can produce yeast with her breath? She's basically going to be my bread starter superstar. When I take over the bakery I'll never have to worry about my starters dying ever again."

[littlefairytale]

Earnestly: "Oh, cool!"

Beat.

Equally earnestly: "What's a starter?"

[maximumcake]

"You're going to be living with Darcy and you don't know what a starter is?" Max presses a hand to his chest. It is his solemn duty to correct this.

"Okay, first. Do you know what yeast does?"

[littlefairytale]

"The only thing we baked regularly in my house was cookies!" It's still the only thing she knows how to make without needing reminders, but she's learning at least. "So uhhhh— not really?"

[maximumcake]

"Cookies are always great, but they don't need yeast so no wonder." Max pauses a moment to try an formulate his thoughts.

"Okay, I don't wanna talk your ear off all night so I'll go with the really, really condensed version. Basically, bread yeast is a type of fungus that bakers cultivate to use for bread and other baked goods. It feeds on the sugar in the dough and releases gasses that make the dough rise. It improves the texture of the bread and influences the taste, too. Does that make sense?"

[littlefairytale]

She does have to do a moment of reckoning with the idea of a fungus that's not just a straight up mushroom, but besides that visible wrinkle— "—I think so? Yeah. That makes sense."

[maximumcake]

Everyone is always shocked that it's a fungus, but it is! Fun food facts.

"Okay, good. So, the thing about a starter is it's a mixture of flour and water that we purposefully ferment until it becomes our yeast culture. The yeast comes from particles on the flour and in the air that get drawn down into the mix until it becomes a cocktail of, like, good bacteria and fungus all in the same little batch. You have to keep feeding it over time, too, so it won't go bad or die. That's where Crumpet comes in. She can breathe on my little jar of yeast and infuse it with more of the good fungus types. She can bring it back to life if it ever starts to fail, too."

[littlefairytale]

"Ohhh." She's still not sure she can fully visualise the science of it all, but she follows enough of the idea to get the point. "Okay that is pretty cool and useful. Who'd have thought a puppy would be such a valuable baking buddy..."

[maximumcake]

"Yeah, now you got it. Crumpet is the perfect pet for me."

Crumpet, when she hears her name, comes bounding back over and shoves her snoot into Max's hand, demanding pets.

Max carries on as if nothing's happened, his hand automatically moving on Crumpet's head. "And, who knows, if I manage to get the new business I'm thinking up off the ground, I might even make her the official mascot. Oh! That reminds me. You're good at working with metal, right?"

[littlefairytale]

Ruby giggles a little as Crumpet runs back over. Drei appears not long after, flopping down nearby.

"Yep! Well, generally. I've been learning the stuff that wasn't what I was used to doing."

[maximumcake]

"Do you think you could do something kind of like a reusable coffee thermos?"

[littlefairytale]

"Oh yeah sure! One of my professor's weapon was a thermos that turned into a flamethrower and a bazooka, actually, so that's less far off my usual than you'd think!"

The very last part is a joke—Oobleck's weapon isn't exactly standard even by her world's standards—but the existence of the weapon itself is very much serious.

[maximumcake]

A flamethrower? Max winces a little at that, but he quickly fixes the smile back on his face.

"W-wow. I never would have guessed. I'm looking for just a good reusable coffee mug though, nothing like...that."

[littlefairytale]

"Oh don't worry I would never recommend handing most people something like that, heh. Professor Oobleck is— he's kind of weird. I'm not sure how he actually drinks from that thing without drinking fire Dust..."

Her brow furrows deeply for a moment as if she's seriously musing this over, but then she's back to normal.

"So yeah I can totally do normal cups!"

[maximumcake]

"I don't know if weird is the word I'd go for..." More like dangerously negligent. Especially to his own health, apparently.

"That's great. As soon as I get my coffee shop up and running, I'm going to need you to make me a bunch of them."

[littlefairytale]

That's what growing up on Remnant will do to you. Their standards for what's weird and what's dangerous are screwy.

"Okay, cool! I can get some practice in in the meantime."