2604/Mission: Cake-Possible

Mission: Cake-Possible
Date of Scene:	09 June 2025
Location:	Nounamu Sweets
Synopsis:	Chiyo invites Makoto to Nounamu Sweets after hours to discuss wedding cake preparations. The news of SECOND CAKE is shared, concerns about Mamoru's mental state occur, a hint of a new blossoming romance??? are dropped and finally they decide on decorations and other delicious items.
Cast of Characters:	Chiyo Sakai, Makoto Kino

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Chiyo Sakai has posed:
After hours at Nounamu meant it was usually empty. Usually. In rare cases the kitchen might be occupied by those who were intent on experimenting with new recipes, or to prep for other things. Given the upcoming nuptials ... It's both cases at the moment.

Chiyo had turned the sign on the main door already but those who knew could still come in. She was in the kitchen itself with an apron on as she does one final cleaning of the long tabletops meant for prep and cooking to ensure it's spotless for Makoto's arrival. There's already several bowls set aside, a mixer at the ready, and utensils one may need to whip up a quick test cake.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto knocks first, a brief polite tap before she lets herself in - more to announce her arrival than anything else. She's carrying a tote bag with her and is looking perhaps a little bit frazzled as she heads back towards the kitchen.

"Chiyo-chan? It's just me. Thanks for letting me take up your time like this... things have gotten a little crazy, and there's still a lot to figure out and only a couple of weeks left to do it."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks over toward the tap to the door with a raised eyebrow. It settles back into place as she grins instead recognizing Makoto. "Of course! I said I'd help, don't be afraid to ask. Plus for a wedding cake you'll need an industrial sized kitchen to help make it not a huge chore."

Chiyo sweeps the cleaning cloth to the side to knock into the little red bucket meant specifically for cleaning countertops only, then sweeps her hands over her apron to lightly dry them. "Well. More of a chore than it already is given... It's a wedding cake."

"Did they figure out the flavors at least?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"For the wedding cake, yes. Usagi-chan and I talked that out as soon as they decided on having the wedding - she wants a white cake with strawberry filling. She left the design up to me, but I have a pretty good idea of what to do with it, especially if I can count on your help putting it together."

Makoto reaches into her tote and pulls out a small planner with a pretty floral cover. Her henshin pen is tucked between the pages; when she opens to that place, it's to show Chiyo a rough-sketched diagram of a stylized lotus flower.

"The trouble is, I just found out a little while ago that they want a second cake for Chibiusa-chan's birthday, since it's coming up at the end of the month, too. And Masato-kun promised Wicked Lady a cake in her honor. Mamoru-san was asking me if there was a way I could put the birthday cake inside the Wicked Lady cake."

The pained look Makoto gives Chiyo speaks volumes, no elaboration required.

"If we need to, Masato-kun can just illusion the birthday cake into a Wicked Lady cake until they're purified... but I have some misgivings about that."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai reaches out for the book that Makoto has as she shifts her weight to lean a hip against the counter. The pen is regarded, recognized with a little smile of memory, and then ignored in favor of the images on the page. As Mako speaks she nods here and there while paying attention.

And thinking.

It's the last part that causes her to pause. "A second cake." She repeats with a look of consternation creeping over her that just shifts to her gaze snapping back to Mako.

"Mamoru wants what?"

"... Has he injured his head recently?" It's inquired of smoothly while offering the book back toward Makoto. It's followed up with an equally smooth-and-perhaps-threatening, "Does he need to?"

TWO cakes. A cake WITHIN a cake. How the hell were they...

Murderous looks aside she pauses suddenly. "Hang on. Wait wait. I might have an idea for that."

In one moment she's gone from leaning against the counter to pushing away and walking further into the kitchen headed for a shelving unit with many drawers that she begins to pull out one at a time looking for something. "There's actually a way we *can* do that, but I might need to get something special for it. For now," she pulls out a plastic wrapped package of what appears to be sheets of paper. Rice paper.

"There's some cupcakes in the mini fridge I figured we could use for snacks. Could you grab those out for me?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"That's what I said!" Makoto replies, aggrieved. She knew Chiyo would understand. "I know he's got a lot going on right now, but still."

She takes back the planner, closing it to tuck away in her tote again. She can almost see the light bulb going on over Chiyo's head, and it's enough to have Mako's brows lifting in curiosity. "Sure," she says, and heads for the mini-fridge in search of the cupcakes to bring back over for Chiyo's proof of concept of... whatever she's planning to do with rice paper.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai gathers up a few more items quickly. "Honestly, adding another cake at this point is kind of a dick move, but i guess it's one of those things. What was Masato-san thinking?" A little cluck of her tongue comes.

"Ah, speaking of him, if you want any bottles of tea he sent me way too many awhile back. Though it has been nice having a drink for lunch every day," she has to admit with a fond grin.

The rice paper is placed, as well as a frosting spatula and a pair of scissors, and a box of matches.

"I saw this on ClockApp awhile ago. Apparently it's becoming popular over in the United States," she explains while cutting a sheet of the paper into a circle. The spatula is picked up to simply LOP off the frosting from one cupcake entirely. A bit is sculpted back around the sides leaving the center hollow.

"You just take wafer paper, or ... rice paper in this case," the paper is lain on top so that it rests on the ring of frosting. Then she carefully puts some more dabs of frosting ontop to hide the edges so it looks like a flat top.

"So they either color this or put a picture or words ontop with edible marker, and then when they want to reveal it?"

A quick swish and flourish has her lighting a single match that she gently touches to the center of the rice paper. It burns away revealing the cake beneath.

"Ta da."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"He needed to make sure Wicked Lady stayed chill," Makoto feels the need to defend Nephrite, "and that she'd go along with the wedding happening and all." She goes back for a bottle of tea, and does a bit of a double-take at the number of them all lined up. "...good to know excessive is just how he rolls, I guess," she murmurs, blushing faintly.

Anyway! Chiyo is Doing a Thing, and Makoto quickly directs her full attention as the other girl explains what she's doing. The demonstration, even at cupcake scale, is fairly dramatic. "Wow," says Makoto, green eyes big. "I was sort of thinking maybe we could somehow make, like, a dark chocolate shell that could stand over it and we could break it when it's time for the reveal... but that would be pretty brittle. And not nearly as dramatic."

She considers the demonstration cupcake thoughtfully. "So basically, if we can decorate the outside edge of the cake to work for either Wicked Lady or Chibiusa-chan... yeah, that could work. According to Mamoru-san she wants pink and red, roses and bunnies for decoration. Pudding filling. She didn't say a flavor, we're supposed to surprise her."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai chuckles a bit as she stands back watching the demonstration. It turns out better than she expected for such a quick demonstration. "Ah, it's okay, I get it. There were plenty of times I've had to try to soothe Dark Generals so that they don't go over the edge."

She might have said more but the blush that Makoto takes on has her eyebrows raising a bit. "Are you okay? You seem a bit ... Touchy about Masato-san." Then again she'd also seen Makoto get embarassed over Haruka before. She could understand.

Back to the cake, she nods emphatically. "It takes awhile for the wafer paper to burn and it leaves residue, but! I know there's this magician style fire paper or flash paper that burns faster and cleaner, and it shouldn't cause any issue with eating the cake after. I think Mamoru has used some before when he wanted to appear dramatic." She could be wrong. But she wouldn't be surprised.

"Chocolate or vanilla pudding holds up the best, I think. I remember ChibiUsa did like chocomint."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's head jerks up, the color in her face brightening. "I'm not," she hastens to assure Chiyo. "I'm not touchy about him or anything. It's just... a little complicated."

She shakes her head briskly before turning the topic back to the matter at hand. "It'd depend on how much ash is left behind," she muses, "but if it burns clean... yeah, that could really work. I was kind of thinking maybe doing it kind of in the style of a tuxedo cake, you know, layers of chocolate and something else. White chocolate mint colored pink would work for that. Pink frosting ribbons and red roses along the outside, and then the flash paper over the top..."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai quietly regards Makoto's defensiveness when she responds about Masato. The corners of her lips quirk up, and she dips her head toward her friend in understanding.

"He is rather handsome. I met him breifly back when he... Before we got them back to our side." It's her turn to redden now, and her throat clears lightly. A stiff nod is given. "If you want to talk, I'm willing to listen. I get it, after all."

The talk of cakes is met with another nod as she considers it. "That would take some time but it's do-able. If we color the paper with black food coloring it'd hide the 'birthday cake' part beneath. The frosting itself can be the other colors so that it makes an easy transition."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Let's just... sort out the cake stuff first," says Makoto, fidgeting with the bottle of tea she hasn't actually opened yet. It might, she realizes, be good to talk this out with Chiyo as a friendly ear... but there are priorities to consider, and the wedding isn't getting any further away while they speak.

"Anyway... yeah, it'll be some work, but with both of us I think we can do it. We can probably recruit some extra hands for the simpler work. When I got onto him about dumping extra work on us out of the blue, Mamoru-san tried to say we could buy a Wicked Lady cake instead, but there's no way. Besides, I don't want Chibiusa-chan to feel like an afterthought, you know?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Are we *sure* Mamoru didn't get dark-energied again?" It's pertinent to ask because the more she hears about what he's been up to and suggesting, the more her eyes widen with absolute shock. "*BUY* a cake? Even if it's not the wedding cake, that is not what you have *at* a wedding for one of the ... And it's his daughter!" Ah, Mamoru, you fool.

A little huff of breath is exhaled. "I can ask Taro to help with decoration. He's really good and eager to help with such things. He can also follow a recipe really well," she adds with a bit of a grin.

"As for the baking you'll have to take the lead. I can do decently at it, but I do confections more than baked items."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto makes a very wry face. "He's juggling a lot, I think, trying to keep Wicked Lady or New Moon from doing anything very terrible and trying to keep Usagi-chan away from Demande. I still almost strangled him for it," she admits.

She brightens at Chiyo's suggestions, especially her recommendation of Taro. "Oh, yes! Taro-kun would be a big help, if he doesn't mind. And being able to trust you and him with the decoration end of things would let me focus on baking. It'll be a crazy couple of days, but I know we can pull it off."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai smiles reassuringly toward Makoto. It was tempting to ask further questions--She was concerned with what was going on after all. The issue of the cake was what she could help with immediately though. "Of course! If we have any issues with making fancy decorations I'm sure Ojiisan will lend a hand, too, but even so. The three of us would make a great team and make it possible to get it all done.

The cupcake she'd demonstrated on is scooped up to take a quick nibble. "Well. Okay. Flowers. Maybe butterflies? Ah but for a birthday cake... Balloons? Some edible glitter."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Roses and bunnies," Makoto says promptly. "That was what Mamoru-san said. Edible glitter is a good idea, too, both for the birthday cake and the wedding cake. I don't really know what we ought to do about candles, unless we just go with what Mamoru-san suggested and get number candles for nine, seven, and one. They'd have to go on after the reveal, though..."

Mako lapses into thought, fiddling with the end of her ponytail. "For the flowers for the wedding, Usagi-chan said dahlias, white and yellow camellias, and baby's breath. But the cake design is that way because of the Silver Crystal. Which reminds me - do you think you could make a few more of those silver crystal candies? One of them pink for Chibiusa-chan, maybe?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Keep the baby's breath *away* from the cakes!" Chiyo instantly remarks with an aghast look. "They're toxic. Even with Mamoru's healing we don't need to be getting anyone sick."

With that small point made, she pauses to consider a long moment. The cupcake gets smaller with a few bites and she stares overtop Makoto's head in thought.

"Roses, bunnies. We could always just decorate the cake with the number and happy birthday, but use a big fancy candle. There's some that open up and 'bloom' into a flower that plays music."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's eyes widen slightly at Chiyo's exclamation, and she quickly shakes her head. "Oh, no," she hastens to assure, "I know, don't worry. Silvia-san has been warned already too - he's catering the other end of things. Even the roses, we don't want to risk anyone eating them if they're florist-grown."

She settles into contemplation. "What about frosting roses along the outside, and a bunny and 'Happy Birthday' on the top? And a fancy candle."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai lets out a sigh of relief hearing that. Mention of Koji earns a brow raise as well though she at least trusts him not to mess up food. The savory sort at least. "I'm glad we're not in charge of the entire menu at least. That would be too much."

"That would work. We can make the bunny of frosting or out of fondant, or if we want we could even make it out of mochi."

Here she pauses to grin at Makoto with a quick wink. "Which reminds me... We do have access to a lot of ingredients, and if you give me at least a week heads up I can usually get specialty items in. I mean besides what we already brought back from KiraKiraFantastica."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"A mochi bunny could be really cute. Especially, you know..." Makoto waves a hand with a grin. "The bunny on the moon. We'd probably need to put it on after the paper burns away, though, wouldn't we? You know more about mochi art than me, do you think you could make it to fit under, or would we have to pop it on after the reveal?"

An interested spark lights Mako's eyes at the mention of specialty ingredients. "What kind of thing are you talking about? We'd need to act on it pretty soon if you need at least a week of lead time, but..."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Well we could get Hokkaido top cream for buttercream," Chiyo suggests thoughtfully as she tries to think of what would be best for cakes. Hokkaido milk *was* the best after all. Imagine the cream quality! "Fresh fruits, umm. Gold leif for decoration maybe. Swiss chocolate. We just have to get it through our vendors is all. Ojiisan wouldn't mind ordering a few items if it's for a special occasion." Which it was.

"As for the mochi, it depends how high we pipe the frosting. We could make some small bunnies though or do a side-view instead of a top view. That would let it be flatter."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Can you see the stars of motivation in Makoto's eyes right now, Chiyo? "Hokkaido cream would be amazing," she says. "And we could use gold leaf to sparkle up the 'Happy Birthday' on the birthday cake, for that extra fancy touch. Don't you think?"

She's set down the bottle of tea to dig out her planner again. Uncapping her henshin pen - yes, it's an actual working pen, who knew? - she begins busily making notes.

rice paper/flash paper for fake cake reveal
tuxedo cake: chocolate and pink white chocolate mint layers?
frosting ribbons and roses around the outside
mochi bunnes, gold leaf happy birthday?

"I'll leave the best way to do a mochi bunny to you, if that's all right? Several small bunnies could be really cute..."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"That won't be a problem at all. I can whip up dozens of bunnies in an hour or two if need be," Chiyo explains with absolute confidence. After all this was *her* area of skill and knowledge. Bunnies were easy. Bunnies were cute. Bunnies could be made into delicious daifuku with strawberry centers.

"Okay, I'll get the cream and gold leif in, that won't be an issue at all. If I see anything else on the list that sounds interesting I'll see if I can snag it. Maybe just for snacks if nothing else. I'll ask Taro for ideas, too. He does some amazing sugar work."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Perfect!" Makoto jots Taro's name and the words 'sugar work' at the bottom of her list. Then she snaps the planner closed and looks up with a satisfied smile. "I think we've got a pretty good plan. Thanks, Chiyo-chan. There's no way I could manage all of this on my own, but with your help, and hopefully Taro-kun's, we'll have it under control for sure."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai beams proudly, and nods with excitement. "Of course! And we can use the kitchen here," she states gesturing, "Since it has multiple ovens, plenty of prep space, and cold storage. It'll be easier than trying in a smaller kitchen. Even if the one in Mamoru's apartment is decently big."