563/Carrots x Cake

Carrots x Cake
Date of Scene:	07 October 2023
Location:	Midori-Ya Cafe
Synopsis:	Nanoha Takamachi sells cakes to Usagi Tsukino. Also, do carrots really belong in cake!?
Cast of Characters:	Nanoha Takamachi, Usagi Tsukino

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Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Midori-ya is a bakery / cafe sits somewhere near a highway, a train station and close enough to the academy that it gets a brisk business. Today Nanoha Takamachi is helping her family bake a wedding cake. Nanoha Takamachi is a little too young to understand true love. But she understands the basic concept. How romantic, she thinks, as she pipes little cute frosting rosettes into the side of the cake. ~.~

SShe sighs in bliss and closes her eyes. Yuuno, the ferret, is watching from the counter, haunched up near a donation can for the local homeless shelter. Sometimes, when an older customer or adult comes in, he'll hold out the can, does a dumb little ferret sound, like it's been trained. Won't you pay the cute ferret? For the homeless? =o.o=

Nanoha accidently, with her eyes closed in romantic thought, screws up a rosette. she 'oops' and uses a flat pastry knife to carefully remove it and remake it. This is going on clearly from the counter as Nanoha busily works, sometimes looking at the counter.

Her family is working in the back as she decorates the cake!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino made a habit of visiting bakeries, all of them that she could. After all, if you didn't visit a bakery, how could you know if it was tasty? What if the next bakery you saw was THE ONE, with the greatest of sweets you could ever find?

So, Usagi visited bakeries. And given that she'd recently received very good advice about splurging on cake, she intended to do just that - have cake. Eat it too.

She was pretty sure because people said you couldn't do that, but what did they know?

Midori-Ya Cafe had been around for a while, but she'd never gotten around to visiting, even though it too was in Juuban. As she walked in, she wasn't expecting to see a ferret at the counter, and was briefly glad Luna wasn't with her, even if the cat had entirely too much dignity to chase a little guy around. "Hello? Is someone - oh! Hi! I almost didn't see you around that cake!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi looks from behind the cake, coming down off her romance stupor to look at Usagi with a blink blink blink "Oh! A customer!" she says as she slides from behind the cake and hops down off the chair she was using to stand up and decorate the cake with.

She pushes the chair out from around the cake, to the counter and then climbs onto the chair with a little mnnnfff.

Yuuno looks on with a tilted head at Usagi. He doesn't say anything. But why would he. Ferrets can't talk silly. Maybe some cats can but ferrets, definitely not, right!?

She places her hands down onto the counter, which is displaying a bunch of bakery items. There's a lot of other things, a small sandwich menu, soups. Nothing but simple fare here.

"I'm... Nanoha Takamachi! Welcome to Midori-ya Bakery and Cafe!" she beams with a smile.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Yes! It was her! A customer! Here for the most delicious possible cakes. Perhaps even three slices of them. Perhaps even four, if she was daring. All for herself, of course, because she was the one who'd been hurt, and also, because carrying cake back to the dorms sounded like a plan doomed to end with Usagi tripping over a crack in the ground and wasting her allowance.

"Yep, a customer. What's your best cake? The one that all your customers like the most? Also, how many flavors of cake do you have?"

Maybe she they have more than one best. Maybe she can have more than one flavor.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi 'ohs!' and smiles. "We get this question a lot. Hold on." she says as she pulls out a rectangle plate and places out in front of her. She hops off the chair and slides the pastry case open. Little slices of cake start to disappear from the inside of the counter display case as she places cake onto the plate.

First is a slice of brown-ish colored cake, frosted in a white frosting and has a little carrot stylized on it. There are raisins in the cake.

Next is an orange-ish colored cake, topped with another white frosting. With a stylized little orange with a green stem put on top...

And next is a simple white cake, marbled in chocolate, with a little white rosette dolloped on top of a dark chocolate frosting. She slides the cake trio towards Usagi carefully. "These are. The specials on offer today. Carrot cake. With Raisins and cream cheese icing... a Mandarin Orange Cake with vanilla icing and a marbled cake, with dark chocolate icing!"

She points them out from behind the counter, so all you might see are her eyes and her hand pointing. Still.

She climbs back up the chair and places her hands back down on the counter. "I like the orange cake." she says. "I looove it actually. It's slightly citrusy sweet!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Orange, carrot, and marble cakes! Those are the specials for the day, huh? Just three of them, and that's exactly what she wanted... but carrots. She hates carrots. They were gross! And everyone always tried to feed them to her!

She squints suspiciously at the carrot cake, and especially at the little carrot decorating the slice. "How... carrot-y is the carrot cake? Because I really don't like carrots, so if it's really carrot-y..."

Orange cake sounds good, so she's definitely going to get a slice. And marble cake was simple, but what was wrong with simple classics? It's the carrot cake that's really troubling her, tripping her up with the thought of something as wonderful as cake being fouled with the hellish creation that was carrots...

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi gasps. "But carrots... are super sweet... and-and- and bake well with a honey drizzle..." she pleads a little. "I bet you only have tried boiled or raw carrots." she says as she crosses her arms. "But if you don't want that... hold on..." she says as she hops off the chair and takes the pastry knife and slides the carrot cake back into the case and hrmmms.

She 'ahs!' outloud and slides a nice sized piece of pineapple upside-down cake onto the tray. It's all gooey, topped with fresh pineapple rings (not canned!) and a cherry in the middle.

"Here. It's. Pineapple Upside-down cake! It's not the special this month, but I'm very good at pretending. So let's pretend it is!" she says with a smile.

Yuuno, is meanwhile, watching like a good ferret, and not getting in the way or making a ruckus. Yet.

"I'm sorry the carrot cake wasn't up to standard." she says with an apologetic bow!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I've had to eat them glazed and baked and shredded and noodled and fried and dried and every way you can imagine a carrot because everyone thinks carrots are great, but that's just propaganda," Usagi sniffs, "They don't even make your eyes better, you can get thos vitamins from other things."

Do not try her, child! She has suffered beyond what anyone can imagine!

But instead of trying to persuade her farther, the younger girl is... trying to get another slice of cake? Is she... is she offering her another flavor? A secret flavor? Usagi's eyes are huge, watching, especially because this new cake looks different, extravagant and sweet and heavy and - "That looks amazing. Can I have that and the orange cake?"

She will start with two - wait!

"Ah, no, no don't apologize! I'm sure your cake is great to someone else, I just really hate carrots!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi, shill for Big Carrot, eyes Usagi suspiciously a little. She likes carrots baked and honeyed herself. She'll eat them anyway. But Nanoha Takamachi really loves her orange veggies....especially sweet potatoes. She doesn't relate this though.

Instead she nods and takes away the marbled cake slice and slides a plastic fork onto the plate. "Here. This for now while I box the cake." she smiles. "Do you want it sliced or not?" she asks as she starts moving towards the back of the shop and then turns around as she reaches the wedding cake she was working on.

"Oh! No it's fine. I'm sure someone else will eat the delicious...." eyes narrow. "Moist...." eyes narrowing further. "Carrot Cake." she says, as she side steps ominously behind the wedding cake.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi looks down at carrot colored evil, and shudders. She can see the particles of carrot, hidden in that cake. Nothing can hide it's twisted cruelties.

"Sliced is perfect! This will be amazing. Thank you!" That's what she says instead of continuing the war on carrots, because she is a mature older girl, and a wonderful senpai, thank you very much. Still, as the younger girl turns back to the cake, she cocks her head, curious. "Are you working on that cake all by yourself?"

She will not rise to the bait. She will NOT!

"Yep! Someone else will surely love that demented flavor profile!" haha whoops who said that.

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi, lover of orange vegetables, decides not to comment on that last statement. Or maybe she's too far in the back to hear it. Maybe it's for the better she doesn't respond. Surely some one else will enjoy that delicious cake. It's staring back at you through the case, Usagi!?

Still. Nanoha Takamachi returns with two fresh cakes that we're baked earlier today and places them on the counter. She then produces... a KNIFE. Now you pay, cake, for Usagi's transgressions against delicious, sweet, orange veggies. +_+

The girl carefully takes the knife and slices the cake, evently, the pineapple cake gets sliced in such a manner as to make sure each piece has a ring of pineapple on them, and a cherry, like the slices she showed earlier, and the orange cake, round, gets sliced into 8 big wedges. She wipes the knife, carefully and places it down on a towel. She knows proper knife safety.

Still, she finally answers. "I didn't bake the cake. Momma does that. But. I did decorate it. Well. Am Decorating it!" she says with a smile. "Isn't it so pretty and romantic?" she asks with wide eyes, sighing breathlessly. "Weddings. And Wedding cakes?" she asks.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Yes, good little girl! No need to argue further for that wretched vegetable. All the others, they were wonderful, but carrots. No, never carrots. Someone else will wander in and fall for that trap, but not Usagi. She alone is free.

Still, there's the cake - a whole cake, not just for her, but definitely mostly for her. She'll share though! With Naru of course, but also Mamochan and Wako and oh, Wako would share with Takuto-kun, and she should invite Koji-kun, she hasn't seen him in too long, and Ikiko-chan too... and Rei-chan, because they needed to hang out without running into monsters. They needed to boost their ratio of 'fun' to 'fight' hangouts, after all!

"Thanks for slicing that! My friends will definitely love it, and... honestly, that's really cool! I mean, that's a lot of responsibility, so your parents must really trust you, handling something that important!" A whole wedding cake. One of the most important parts of the wedding! And yet, it really did look pretty.

"I love weddings," she sighs wistfully, "I haven't gotten to go to any, but they look so wonderful in my shows!"

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi slowly slides the cakes into boxes. Then she assembles the boxes one, by one, tying each up with a bright pink ribbon. They say 'Midori-ya Cafe and Bakery' on the top.

She places one on top of the other, the pineapple upside-down cake on the bottom as that's the heaviest.

"It is pretty! I worked hard on it." she says confidently. "I'm really good at baking! But...not sure if..."

"...if it's what I wanna do when I grow up." she admits a little sadly, before looking up and shakes off the sudden oncoming of solemnly sad with a tap tap at the register as she climbs a stool there to sit on it.

She rings off some amount that's reasonable for two cakes in Japanese currency and then asks. "Will that be cash or card?" she asks.

As she does this, Yuuno finally helpfully shakes the can he was near with donations for the homeless. Help the homeless, or I, a cute ferret. Might cry. Those eyes say at least. =o.o=.

Nanoha Takamachi does not comment on the trained ferret.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You worked very hard," Usagi can tell, as she looks at the cake, and then glances down at Nanoha, frowning at the little girl's faltering tone, "You know - you don't have to have it figured it out yet. You're still little! You've got tons of time to figure it out. Plus, you could always come back to this, right? Even if something you tried doesn't work out."

It's a back up plan! And at least this little girl is really thinking about what she wants. Usagi is impressed! Not shamed in the slightest.

"Cash! I've got that in my wallet."

She does! She starts counting out the yen, sticking her tongue out as she counts bills, and then hands the total over, before looking at the cakes... two cakes. Usagi is avoiding the ferret's eyes... avoiding them... and then hands over two hundred yen."

Nanoha Takamachi has posed:
Nanoha Takamachi handles the payment and cashing out. If there's change to be made, she makes it. Yuuno lets loose a little trill sound and scampers off to the side with the can, looking pleased with himself. "Thank you! And thank you for the donation." because ferrets still can't talk.

Right?

Still, she nods. "I guess. And you're right!" she says with a little smile. Not letting her personal issues get too far out of control. No need to worry this other girl, a customer, even, with her business.

"I could always come back to baking..." she says as she smiles on her stool.

"Enjoy your cakes...!" she says. "And thanks for complimenting my cake!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Thanks for the recommendation. These are definitelly going to be great cakes." She has her little sample slice, half of it mysteriously gone already (when did that happen? don't worry about it.) The two boxes are carefully gathered in her arms. They're heavy, but she can manage, and besides -

Sailor Moon is stronger than Usagi Tsukino. And Sailor Moon's chest doesn't hurt as much when she lifts, what with all that magical energy at the work. As soon as she's found an alley, she'll be bringing these cakes home in style... and hopefully not dropping one.

"Have a good day, okay? That cake is going to be beautiful when it's finished!"