xp_logs | Amara and Callie: Cookies!

Two budding epicureans prepare for Valentine's Day and talk about traveling

"And there," Callie proclaimed as she put the finishing touches on the purple flower in front of her. She lay the piping back on the counter and stepped back to admire her work. "What do you think," she asked, gently picking the cookie so that it lay face up in her palm. "New England Aster or no?"

Amara frowned a little, looking at it. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." It wasn't always obvious that Amara had only lived in America for two and a half years, but when it came to identifying flowers, she was definitely behind the eight ball on that one.

"They're like a purple flower, kinda like a daisy, well they're in the same family... OH!" It would be probably easier to show Amara rather than explain it. Callie carefully slid the photo she had been using for reference out of binder she had propped up on the counter, and held it up to the cookie-on-a-stick she held in her other hand. "Here!"

"Oh!" Amara smiled, leaning over to look at the picture. "Yes, that looks great! You're doing such a great job with them." Amara was going a little more conventional with her cookies, most of them were decorated with love hearts and the like.

"Really?" Green eyes flicked back and forth between the upside down picture and cookie. They were close, at least close enough for Callie's preference. "Yay," she chirped brightly as she lay the cookie down on the rack. "Your cookies look really good too." Callie sneakily licked a stray glob of frosting off her wrist as the picture was slid back into its place. "Thanks for helping me use up all this dough. Good cookie dough shouldn't be wasted."

"Aw, thank you! And it's my pleasure, honestly. I love spending time in the kitchen, especially with other people." She took a moment to glance around the kitchen. "I am fairly sure this is my favourite room in the mansion."

"I agree!" A pink hand reached out and picked up another flower shaped cookie. "And it's great that the mansion is filled with all these hungry people, you know? I just wish I had more time to bake." She carefully spread a thin layer of white icing over the top of the cookie. "You're from Brazil right?"

"Oh yes, so do I. Between classes and reading and commuting, I definitely don't have as much time as I used to." She sighed, reaching for another cookie. "Yes..." She said slowly. "Nova Roma, the place where I grew up, is located in the Brazilian jungle." Given how isolated it was, it didn't exactly consider itself part of Brazil.

"Oh my gosh, really? That's so cool!" While Burlington could hardly compare with real cities like New York, it was still more urban than most of the state. And for a girl who would rather be surrounded by mountains and trees than buildings, it felt a little claustrophobic. Callie looked over at Amara, her face full of awe and wonder. "Like seriously, that's really cool. So, like, what do you think of New York?"

"It's... amazing," she said with a laugh. "When I first came here, I couldn't even envisage a city like that. Let alone a house like this one. I actually don't like to spend too much time out in the main parts of New York, especially when it's busy. I try and stick to the college campus while I'm in there."

There came a nod in agreement from the younger girl. "It's pretty big. Ya. Huge culture shock, even for me." She stared at her white cookie for a moment, wondering what to decorate it with. "What color should I use for this one you think?"

"Where are you from?" Amara asked, trying to think if she should know this and... not really coming up with anything. "And red. I love red flowers. Or perhaps blue." Blue flowers weren't entirely natural, but it didn't really matter at this point, did it?

"Oh! I could make a Morning Glory! That's perfect Amara! I love them." Red blooms were pretty, but so typical, especially for Valentine's Day. And frankly, there were very lovely plants that were given little to no attention in favor of roses, which to Callie wasn't fair. She beamed as she reached for the bag of blue that had been barely touched and began to meticulously cover the white in blue. "Me? I'm from Vermont. So not too far away. We moved not this past summer but the summer before to Milan though. So I guess that's home now?"

Amara wasn't entirely sure what a Morning Glory was, but she trusted that Callie did. She glanced over at what Callie was doing, a little curious. "Milan is in Italy, yes? I've always been curious about it. Italy, I mean. I read a fair amount of Shakespeare growing up, and so many of his plays were set there. What's it like?"

Callie's brow furrowed in concentration as she reached for the purple bag she had just been using and piped it onto the blue she had previously laid down. "Well it's Italy," she explained, piping the fine lines and accents on the cookie. "It's old. Like ruins and stuff. And pretty. You should visit it. It's... it's pretty cool."

"Oh... I couldn't," she said with a bit of a sigh, putting aside the cookie she'd been working on so she could start a new one. "I get very ill when I travel, at least by air or sea. I don't do very well when I'm cut off from Mother Earth." Which is something she'd probably have to work on, particularly if she wanted to be an X-Man.

"What if like we got Clarice to teleport you? I mean you'd be separated for like a little bit and then be back on ground?" Callie looked up from her cookie. "Well if you ever wanna visit you totally have a place to stay."

"Oh, that could work!" Amara looked rather cheered at the thought. "Perhaps when I want to go away somewhere, I will speak to her." She grinned to Callie. "Thank you, that is very kind of you. If Nova Roma ever decides to allow visitors, you are certainly welcome to come and visit anytime!"

"That would be awesome! I would love to go to Brazil some day." Callie squealed in delight as she placed the finishing touches on her flower. "There. I think that's set. Only about a million more to go. I have a feeling we're going to get severe carpal tunnel from decorating all of these."

"I will see what my father thinks, next time I write to him. And we'd have to get permission from the Professor, of course." Nova Roma was a lot safer than it was when Amara was living there, but an adventure to the Brazilian jungle is definitely something a lot of thought and care would have to be put into. She laughed at Callie's comment, finishing up the touches on her cookie. "But just think how much everyone will enjoy them. That is the important part, really."