Comforts of Home [Vanyel/Violet]

Violet closed her eyes and lowered her head like a turtle when he ruffled her hair, but smiled at being told she succeeded. For a moment, she was confused about having to do it again, but realized that was just because they were mixing more in. For a moment, she thought she had to start over because she messed up; she was glad she realized what he actually meant. “Okay, so what do we add next?”

Violet could measure a half-cup of milk just fine. She poured in the milk in a little too quickly, but since she didn’t panic, it seemed intentional since she didn’t panic about it. She put the gallon to the side, picked up the measuring cup to see how much she put over, and then took a drink. The amount she drank perfectly brought it down to a half-cup of milk. With a sweet smile, “I’ve always liked milk.”

When she poured the milk in a bit quicker than he figured she would, he almost took a step forward to make sure that, if she did make a mess, it wouldn't get too bad, too quickly. But, seeing that she wasn't panicking made him refrain with a brief sigh of relief. He got a bit closer as she finished to see how much she had poured in, but just as he was looking at the numbers, she picked up the measuring cup and drank the overflow.

He couldn't help but start chuckling at that, covering his mouth for a moment, before finally checking the numbers, and, sure enough, it was exactly at a half-cup. Seemed like she had a good eye for gauging stuff like this. Did she do that intentionally just so she could get a drink of milk? Oh, well, what did it matter. It was fuckin' adorable was what it was.

"Well, that's one way to do it. Y'know, if you wanted milk, I coulda gotten you a glass, I don't mind. Got some chocolate syrup in there too, if you ever wanna mix it in."

He couldn't stop snickering, even as he reached around to grab the measuring spoons and bring them to the front. Eventually though, he calmed down and brought the vanilla extract out next.

"So, measuring spoons are usually for dry ingredients like flour, but if you're using somethin' in really small amounts like vanilla extract, then you can use 'em for that too. Also, just to note, don't use any more than what the recipe calls for with that stuff. Too much of it can make you sick, so be careful. We just need about a fourth of a teaspoon for the mix."

Violet wanted a drink of milk. That’s why she did it!

“I can? … I thought drinking too much milk would make you fat?” Violet questioned, yes another belief she had from who the hell knows where. “And why would you put chocolate syrup in milk?” Violet asked, completely dumbfounded by that idea and then poked his cheek when he was still laughing, though she was smiling too, so she wasn’t offended. “And why are you laughing at me?”

As Vanyel brought out the vanilla extract, Violet pointed at it and then pointed at the rest. “How come I’m doing all of the preparing if we’re supposed to be working together? This is more like when you’re teaching me martia-…” Violet puffed out a cheek and looked at him. “Vanyel, you fell into teacher mode again.”

Wait, what? Who the hell taught her that? In fairness, anything in excess was bad for a person, and some things needed to be held in a bit more strict moderation than others, but milk certainly wasn't one of them. So, he couldn't help but look at her in confusion at such a bizarre idea. However, despite her pouting at his unintentional default to teacher mode, Vanyel gave a light, sheepish shrug as he stepped behind her, reaching into the fridge to grab a bottle of chocolate syrup, reaching up to the cupboard to grab a glass.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but you're doing great! Besides, you're wanting to learn, and this is part of the process! It's better to let you get hands-on experience, that's what cooking's all about!"

As he set down the glass, he took the gallon of milk, carefully pouring it into the glass, before squirting some chocolate syrup in, getting a spoon out, and stirring it together. She'd apparently never tried chocolate milk, or, at the very least, not like this. Well, today, the little lady was gonna find out how great it was. So, finishing the process, he slid the glass over to her.

That look of confusion led Violet to blush and look away in embarrassment. Luckily, it went away with his laughing at her and she had something else to figure out! Her mind was, of course, distracted by the fact that he pulled out chocolate syrup and began pouring a glass of milk. She watched curiously, pressing her index finger against her bottom lip as she watched him. Seeing him pour in the chocolate, Violet’s face distorted to mild disgust. “You’re ruining it…” she muttered, pouting.

As the glass slid over to her, Violet looked suspiciously at Vanyel and then picked up the brown concoction. ‘Chocolate is good… Milk is good… But mixed? This is gonna taste horrible…’ she thought as she took a breath and held her nose, as if she were drinking a tuna-egg protein shake. However, what she drank was a surprise. Her eyes widened as she looked down at the glass. A quick, shy glance to Vanyel, and Violet turned away from him to down the whole thing.

“I love it!” she said, turning back to him with a smile and a chocolate milk mustache. "How the hell did you come up with something like this? It's magic, isn't it?" She was clearly joking, but she looked back down into the empty glass, and held it out to Vanyel. "May I have some more? Someone seems to have drank mine..."

She really never had chocolate milk before. He could hear the pouting mumbles as he mixed the two together, but, he knew what he was doing. So, despite her quiet complaints, Vanyel remained calm and confident about the concoction. He folded his arms over his chest, smiling as he watched her hesitantly take a sip...before turning around and downing the entire thing.

However, as she turned back around to face him, he noticed the chocolate milk mustache, something he couldn't help but start snickering at as he reached to grab a nearby paper towel and hand it out to her, making a light gesture toward the area in question.

"Told ya so. But, before you get more, let's finish up the French toast's egg mix. However...I will show you the best part about havin' chocolate syrup around the house. Open your mouth and tilt your head up."

Once she did so, Vanyel picked up the bottle of chocolate syrup, flipped it upside down, and squeezed a sizeable amount of syrup into the girl's mouth. It was unquestionably one of the most childish things he ever did in his life. Did he care? Not in the slightest. It tasted good, and sometimes it was a good boost of sugar early in the morning.

Plus, since she never had chocolate milk before, he figured she'd never done something like this -- so, bonus points for introducing a fun new experience.

Violet took the paper towel and licked the mustache off before wiping her face. Why waste it? She wanted more too, but Vanyel had a good point for finishing what they started. But oh no... Violet got an idea!!!!!!!!! She went to ask, but was stopped when he told her to… what…? Voilet blinked and glanced to the chocolate syrup. It wasn’t hard to figure out what he was going to do. Violet smiled and opened her mouth, happily having chocolate poured in, but this was still... new.

Violet giggled mid-chocolate pour and caused some of the chocolate to splash out of her mouth. She quickly slapped her hand over to stop the rest, but some ended up in her hand. She couldn't help the continued laughter, but had to forcibly stop it, swallow the rest, and then coughed. "Sorry," she said, still coughing and going to the sink to swash up. "That almost came out my noooosseee. Eeewww.."

Afraid that some might have, she took another paper towel and wiped her face off, looking around to see where all of the splashed chocolate had landed.

Uh-oh. He wasn't expecting her to start laughing while he was pouring it in her mouth, and that caused some of it to splash onto his face. Though, admittedly, the situation did make him chuckle a bit. Quickly turning to get more paper towels, he used his free hand to guide her over to the sink, so as to make less of a mess, before handing them to her and patting her on the back.

"Easy now, Vi, it's alright."

He turned on the faucet, grabbing the soap dispenser next to it and squirting a bit of it onto her hands so that she could clean up.

"I'll take care of the floor, don't worry."

With that, he grabbed a few paper towels, dampened some of them, and then went to wipe up what chocolate had gotten onto the floor. Balling them up as he finished and tossing them in a nearby trash can, he turned back around to check on Violet.

"You okay? Sorry about that, didn't mean to pour so much."

When Violet turned around, she saw that he had some chocolate on his face. She wasn’t sure he saw it though. As he went to wipe up the floor, she lathered the soap to get the chocolate off her hands and used another paper towel to dry off. By the end of the day, they were going to need more if they kept using them like this.

She grabbed a fresh one again, dampening it under the faucet, and then went to wipe chocolate from his face, but hesitated. "Uh... Here," she said, holding the paper towel out for him to take. "Some got..." Using her free hand, she gestured all over her own face, a shy smile on her lips, with a touch of red gracing her cheeks.

At first, he was confused at her getting another paper towel. Did some splash on the counter and he didn't notice it? Did he miss a spot on the floor? But, then he saw that she was reaching out to his face, and he gently dabbed at one of his cheeks. Sure enough, there was chocolate on there that he hadn't noticed. At first, he started snickering, before gingerly taking the damp paper towel and carefully wiping off his face.

As he balled up the paper towel, he couldn't help but start laughing at himself, at the absurd situation...it was nice. It felt nice to just...have fun, have a hand in the kitchen, teaching her, it was just a really nice day. So, reaching out, he gently patted Violet on the head, a wide, warm smile accompanying him as he lightly ruffled her hair, before taking a few steps back to the countertop.

"Well, now that that's over and cleaned up, let's finish this, shall we?"