#but I like Whipped Ganache | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

quibbs126 · 6 months

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I know you've done this before but can you please maybe make a darkwhip kid, but with the basis that Whipped comes from the Millenial Tree family?

I finally finished her, this lady is Whipped Ganache Cookie

Fun fact, Whipped Ganache was one of the first fankid names I came up with when I first made my list, which was a little before I opened up requests, I just didn’t get requests for darkwhip nor did I have ideas like I did for pureraisin and darklico, but then I finally ended up getting this request, so I could use it

So basically ganache is like this chocolate sauce or icing or filling, it has a lot of uses, and whipped ganache is this whipped version with more cream than chocolate. I picked it because it seemed like whipped cream but chocolate, perfect for darkwhip

The thought occurs to me that maybe chocolate mousse could have worked too (mainly due to my roommate saying whipped ganache reminded her of it), but I like Whipped Ganache. And I can save it for later (but not the other darkwhip kid, and I don’t need a third one)

Whipped ganache:

So this is technically my second time drawing her, with my first attempt only getting as far as the hair sketch. I couldn’t figure out what to do for her outfit, so I just left her for some months until yesterday

But I had a good idea of what to do for the hair (even if I changed it somewhat)

But let’s get to the outfit. Yet again, I didn’t really know what to give her, other than she probably wears dresses. I put her in a hanbok since I was like “I dunno, that’s an outfit she could wear”. And sure it looks fine, but I wasn’t really sure it fit her, specifically with the request of her having some relation to Millennial Tree Cookie, but you know, no one gave me a goddamn answer when I asked (well other than my friend who said keep the hanbok, but she also said she was biased so) so I just had to stick with the hanbok. I’m still not sure it works to be honest. I mean, if she’s going for a formal event/festival in the Dark Cacao Kingdom, sure, but I’m not sure it works as her default. Maybe if I can come up with something better I can make a new design with that, but for now, this is what I have

I’m also not sure about her outfit colors to be honest. I wanted her to have pinks, but I also wanted her to have browns (and also that purple I got that looked neat), and I’m not sure I found the best balance in the end. But I asked my friend and she said “look good” so I kept it

I like the mountain pattern on her hanbok, I got that straight from Dark Choco’s costume

Sorry, I don’t have much to say. I came up with the hair months ago and don’t really remember all the logic other than it being long sort of like Millie and having pearls because Whipped Cream, and I have more complaints about the outfit because I don’t think it fits. But I like everything else about her aside from her outfit

Anyways, character time

So I think I came up with some ideas for her back in July when we were coming back from England, though I soon went on to work on Vanilla Lily/Witch Hazel (and fun fact, I haven’t looked back at those notes until right now as I’m writing this)

So first thing about Whipped Ganache (that I probably should have mentioned in the design section), she is very tall. She isn’t necessarily wide, but she is tall, taller than either of her parents. I just wanted to mention that

But anyways one of her main things is that she has healing magic, which is what she’s supposed to be doing with the flower in the sketch (wasn’t sure how to give off the glowing effect though). But also, while her magic is healing, it’s deadly towards things of dark magic, like what healing magic does to undead things in old games (actually as far as I’m aware that’s only FF7)

I’m remembering now, I think one thing I envisioned with her is her summoning a giant ass laser like what Millennial Tree does in his Skill, and when she fires it, her allies caught in it would be healed while her enemies (presumably made of dark magic) would be harmed

Whipped Ganache is generally a very serene and kind person, has the patience of a saint. I’m not sure she has a breaking point, she probably does but I haven’t thought much on it. She’s very attuned to nature as well, maybe not to the point of being a tree hugger, but enough that she doesn’t like blatant exploitation of it. Also she’d survive very easily by herself in the wild

Another thing about her is that she plays a harp. Not a lyre like what Carol or Lilybell uses, but a full giant harp. I got that from listening to Millennial Tree Cookie’s theme

Anyways, I think that’s about it for her. But also just a note, she’s not the only darkwhip kid I plan to make, it’s just that she doesn’t necessarily follow the same rule of being related to Millennial Tree. I mean she and Whipped Ganache live in the same timeline, they’re sisters, but she doesn’t have much that makes that trait noticeable, so she’ll get her own thing

But yeah, I hope you enjoyed Whipped Ganache

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milo-is-rambling · 1 year

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Alright time to make the easiest peanut butter pie in the world

#literally like whip cream til it’s whipped. mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth then put the peanut butter in it and mix and then fold #it into the whipped cream you made and put it in the crust. put it in the fridge/freezer and then make your chocolate ganache #I’m gonna top it with reeses thins #and maybe heath crumble too if I’m feeling like it but idk yet #and then I got mini pie crusts to make a pie for candles to go in

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hale-of-stiles-heart · 1 year

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I'm planning on making a chocolate black velvet cake with an espresso chocolate ganache filling and a caramel buttercream

#though I might end up swapping the filling and frosting! Like fill it with the caramel buttercream and frost with whipped ganache #ignore me

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cursedauxiliary · 1 month

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some stupid internet/tiktok drama i stumbled upon is ppl shitting on this woman for making dinner for her kids.... like sorry shes not this insanely manicured upper-class trad wife that whips out yeast starters...did everyone just collectively fuckin forget the lackluster shit we ate as a kid??

#newsflash some ppl are poor #also maybe the kid is a picky eater #I fuckin ate ketchup sandwiches and bags of plain pasta to lunch #if my mom did the grwm vids when i was a kid most of it would just be baby carrots and like shitty Chinese takeout #.txt #makes me mad #even the youtuber reviewing this is doing a shit job #making a “haha” video cuts #like a lotta ppl dont have the time or have that built up cooking skills to whip out ganache broccoli for their toddler #but ofc aesthetically pleasing ppl that are straight up abusing/neglecting their kids get a pass unless its “blatantly obvious”#if you look poor or somewhat undesirable then everything gets super scrutinized and ppl are throwing cps at you like rotten tomatoes #“oh but the internet exits so she can work on her skills”#yes true but consider being poor

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catmemey · 8 months

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lol and lmao at this recipe that told me to beat ganache for 45 seconds max to get stiff peaks at medium speed when it took me like 3 minutes at least.

#its a recipe in a fancy food magazine i had lying around #was given to me by a friend a couple years ago along with other magazines #its for white choco espresso ganache shortbread thumbprint cookies #seems complex but wasnt too hard in practice!#but like. the instructions for that ganache? kinda weird to expect stiff peaks tbh #it was relatively runny before whipping/beating so idk if the intent was to have it be a thicker ganache initially?#maybe the white choco i used made it more liquidy #anyways. they turned out good #more dry than ideal evn with the ganache on it but it'll be the perfect tea time treat

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mysteryshoptls · 2 months

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SR Jack Howl - Apprentice Chef Vignette

"Master Chef"

[Kitchen]

Master Chef ― Jack Version ～Let's Make Macaron 1～

Ghost Chef: Alright, so let's get started on making macarons. Are you ready, Jack-kun?

Jack: Yessir! Ready to go!

Ghost Chef: First, we make the meringue. Chilled egg whites give a more consistent foam, you see. We'll want to work quickly.

Jack: Right. Do I use the eggshells to separate the egg whites from the yolk? I see that done on TV a lot.

Ghost Chef: That's one way to do it, but… This time we'll just crack the eggs into a bowl and remove the yolk with a ladle, just to be safe.

Ghost Chef: If the yolk mixes in with the egg whites, then the meringue won't be able to foam up. Do your best to not break the yolk sac.

Jack: Can't break them… right. So I gotta work fast and delicately.

[tap, tap… crack]

Jack: Nice, a clean break. Next, I'll use the ladle and pull out the egg yolk into a different bowl…

Jack: …

Ghost Chef: Wh-What a scary face… But that just shows how much he's trying to focus. I'll just stay silent watch over him.

Jack: Whew… Somehow I got the yolk out without breaking it. Next I just have to turn the egg whites into foam, right?

Ghost Chef: Yup. Be careful, though, because if you don't get it foamy enough, the batter won't puff up properly when you bake it.

Jack: If it doesn't puff up, then it won't make that little round shape… So this is super important to take care of.

Ghost Chef: Correct! Alright then, use that whisk and whip it up good. Make sure to add granulated sugar as needed, too.

Jack: …It's really starting to get some stiff peaks. Chef, is this good enough for the meringue?

Ghost Chef: Yup, looks perfect for making macarons. Next, we'll start the macaronage process.

Jack: Macronage? That's the first time I've ever heard that word…

Ghost Chef: We'll sieve the ground almonds and powdered sugar together into the meringue, while folding in the peaks.

Jack: We're just gonna destroy the foam after going through all that whisking? Making pastries is weird…

Ghost Chef: If we were making something soft like a cake, then we wouldn't ruin the foam.

Jack: Oh, I see, it depends on what's being made.

Ghost Chef: That being said, I'm not saying we're going to completely ruin it, so be a little gentle. Next, add in about a third of the flour.

Jack: So, to fold in the foam… I guess the best way would be to mix it from the outside in.

Jack: I have to watch my strength, too… Urgh, this really take a lot of focus… But I think the meringue is slowly stiffening up.

Ghost Chef: You're doing great. Now add in the rest of the flour until the batter can stretch out into ribbons.

Jack: Got it. Carefully… Carefully… Don't put too much strength into it…

Jack: Whenever I pull up on the batter, it just falls in globs back into the bow. Guess it's not ready yet.

Jack: Just a little more… But I gotta make sure I don't overdo it…

Jack: …

Ghost Chef: Jack-kun has another scary look on his face… I guess he just gets a mean mug when he's focusing.

Jack: …Whew, I finally finished squeezing out the shells. They look about the same size.

Jack: Chef, we have to leave them to dry now, right?

Ghost Chef: Yup. You looked like you were really working hard there… Are you tired at all?

Jack: This is nothing. I'm always working out, so.

[Kitchen]

Master Chef ― Jack Version ～Let's Make Macaron 2～

Jack: Great, the white chocolate ganache is done too. Now I just gotta wait for the shells to finish baking.

Ghost Chef: You wanted to take this class so you could make meals that would help with your training regimen, right?

Ghost Chef: Was it disappointing to learn it was going to be a sweets-making program this time around?

Jack: …Honestly, it was.

Jack: But that didn't mean I was going to slack in any class I choose to take.

Jack: And I bet once I learn how to make other kinds of sweets, it'll come in handy for all sorts of things…

Jack: Nothing's lost by learning stuff. Since I signed up for this, I'm going to throw my all into it.

Ghost Chef: You're such a diligent kid… Just from the way you carry yourself, I know you'll take this class seriously!

Ghost Chef: Oh, you know. We have some time, so why don't I teach you some recipes of sweets with protein in them?

Jack: Really? I'd really appreciate that!

Jack: Looks like the macaron shells are done baking. I sure hope they came out good…

Jack: …Most of them all have cracks running through them. What went wrong?

Ghost Chef: It could have been any number of things; maybe the meringue wasn't whisked enough, or there wasn't the right amount of macaronage, or the shells didn't dry long enough…

Ghost Chef: The amount of time the oven had preheated, as well as the temperature of the oven could have affected it as well.

Jack: There's really that many ways it could have gone wrong!?

Ghost Chef: Macarons are a pretty tricky pastry to make, you know. You just have to make them over and over again to learn how to make them right.

Jack: So failure's just a part of the experience, huh. I'll make sure I do it better next time.

Ghost Chef: That's the spirit! But first, we need to finish up this ordered batch.

Jack: Right. This one is too large because I gripped the piping bag too strong… This one just looks terrible.

Jack: Relative to the others, I think the only ones that were actually cooked through and we can use is this one… and this one?

Jack: So then I pipe the white chocolate ganache filling onto one of the shells…

Jack: And I take another macaron shell and sandwich the ganache…

Ghost Chef: Aah, there goes that intense look again!

[Cafeteria – Judging Venue]

Ace: Gah, you're telling me Jack made my order of macarons!?

Jack: You're telling me that Ace of all people is my judge? Looks like I got saddled with an annoying one.

Ace: Totally can't see you making macarons. That's super hilarious.

Jack: Tch, you think you're so funny. Here, have your macarons. Hurry and eat up.

Ace: Woah! These have so many cracks they're falling apart! Are they really macarons!?

Ace: Out of today's possible dishes, this was what I wanted the most, but… Did I make a mistake choosing this…?

Jack: Grr… The way he's saying it pisses me off, but I can't really deny how it looks…

Ace: Well, whatever, guess I'll eat it… Hm? Y'know, one of these actually looks okay.

Jack: Most of them were pretty well cracked… I tried to assemble the ones that still looked okay relative to the others.

Ace: Uh-huh. Then I guess I'll start with this one.

Ace: [chew, chew]… Hm? Oh? It's actually not bad.

Jack: Yeah, yeah… Wait, did you just say it's not bad?

Ace: The pastry is pretty crisp, and the cream sandwiched inside is pretty smooth… I mean, it tastes like I'd expect a macaron to taste, I guess?

Ace: I guess when it comes to this one, you're on the right track? Although you did have to go through way too many macarons to get one success.

Jack: You just gotta say it in an annoying way, huh… But that means I pass, right?

Ghost Chef: Good job. This is the result of all your hard work, Jack-kun!

Jack: Thanks, sir.

Ace: So what's with you looking all happy about that? I'm tellin' ya, only one of them is good.

Jack: I know. But I know what I need to do. I'll make better ones next time.

Jack: I'll definitely make some perfect macarons before I finish this Master Chef course!

Requested by @sakurakudo.

#twisted wonderland #twst #jack howl #ace trappola #twst jack #twst ace #twst translation #twst masterchef

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fox-bright · 2 months

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Rage Cheesecake with Oreo Crust, Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting, and Home-Grown Tart Cherry Topping

I took recipe-bits from all over and changed them into something that sounded more like what I wanted, so here's what I did today instead of committing a felony!

RECIPE BEHIND CUT

Oreo crust part:

* 25 Oreos

* 5 tablespoons of melted butter

* Pan--pie pan or springform, depending on how deep a cheesecake you want. This makes a nice, not-too-deep cheesecake in a nine-inch springform; it would be Too Much Filling in a pie pan, which would mean you have extra, and that's always fun too. An eight-inch springform is probably perfect.

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. You may eat TWO OREOS. Crush the remainder. I have the best time with this when I use a food processor, but if you are *particularly* spirited today, this is a good place to take out some aggression. Just pulverize the things, filling and all, until they are all reduced to the consistency of sand.

3. Add melted butter and mix until it's like *wet* sand.

4. Put buttery chocolate sand into your chosen cooking dish. I use a little jar and push push push pat pat pat until it's all nice and level from the center of the dish to the edge and has no holes.

5. Bake for eight to twelve minutes. You want it to still look a little moist. Do not overcook!

6. Remove from oven and let cool. Don't move the pan around too much before it's cool or you risk fracturing the crust.

Cheesecake part:

* Two packages of cream cheese, room temperature unless you like cream cheese chunks in your cheesecake. No judgment, some people are into that.

* 2/3C white sugar

* 3 eggs

* 3 cups of sour cream (this is a very moist cheesecake!)

* Vanilla to taste

1. Preheat oven to 325F, that's 25 degrees LOWER than for the crust.

2. Cream sugar and cream cheese until smooth.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, mix until just blended.

4. Add all sour cream and vanilla, mix until just homogenous. Don't overmix or you get weird dry pillowy stuff instead of nice dense cheesecake.

5. Cook in prepared crust for approximately 50 minutes, until it's set at the edges but a little jiggly yet in the middle.

Note: Properly you'd do this in a bain marie, but I don't have one, so I wrap the bottom of my springform pan in aluminum foil and set the whole kit and kaboodle into a sturdy cookie sheet, put all that into the preheated oven, and pour water into the cookie sheet once it's safely on the oven rack. If the cheesecake starts to overcook on the top before the center is set, cover it with aluminum foil.

6. Remove from oven; let rest in bain marie/rigged pan for ten minutes before removing springform pan to clean towel. Let rest *there* until it's cool enough to put in the fridge. Cover and chill for two to four hours.

Cherry topping part:

* Sour cherries that have been frozen since last year, or a bag of cherries, or fresh cherries, whichever, approximately 4.5 cups which is too many for just this cheesecake but it's nice to have around anyway

* Granulated sugar to taste

* Corn starch

Or just pick up a can or two of cherry pie filling, in which case you can skip this whole step.

1. Defrost cherries. If you don't do this in a pot, there's a good chance that they will leak precious juice all over your clean counter. Don't be me; thaw that stuff in the pot you'll heat it in.

2. Once they're not a singular ice block but instead a bunch of big ice chunks, turn the temperature on low, maybe around a 2.

3. Once the cherries are separate from each other, add sugar to taste. This changes a lot depending on your cherries' tartness; I eventually used nearly two cups of sugar for around 4.5 cups of cherries. Usually I'd use a good bit less, but they're very tart this time.

4. Cook and cook and cook until the liquid is reduced by about a third.

5. Add corn starch. For those measurements I added about a tablespoon and a half. Remember to make it a slurry before pouring it into the pot; you can either do this with a little water, or you can spoon out some of the cherry syrup (don't burn yourself!), mix that into a little bowl along with the corn starch, and then pour it all into the pot. Bring back to a good bubble for four or five minutes, then remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.

Whipped chocolate ganache part:

* 1 part heavy cream to 1 part chocolate (I just use Toll House. Everyone says not to do that. It's been fine).

1. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

2. Warm the cream on the stove until it's juuuust about to start bubbling. Stir frequently so it doesn't get a skin.

3. Remove from heat, pour into heatproof bowl over the chocolate.

4. WALK AWAY. I'm serious. Don't touch it. Don't poke at it. Do not, do NOT, attempt to stir it. Walk away.

5. After five minutes, come back and stir, stir, until it's all one thing. It should be like a very good, very thick chocolate syrup. You *can* just eat this, with a spoon. You can pour it over a cake, or dip strawberries in it. Chilled right as it is, it is a dessert on its own.

6. Let it cool to room temperature.

7. Come back and use your hand mixer or stand mixer to whip it up. This should get to a pipeable consistency; if it doesn't, you may need to incorporate powdered sugar. If you add butter and powdered sugar, you'll get a very stable buttercream.

Finishing part:

1. Remove springform edge from nice cold cheesecake.

2. Pipe or dollop whipped ganache in ring atop the cheesecake.

3. Fill the ring with cooled cherry filling.

4. Garnish further if you'd like. I used decorative Sixlets and some more crushed Oreo.

5. Finished!

#baking #fox bakes #dessert #cheesecake #so so angry still #this was not a sufficient amount of cooking #I may have to hunt someone specific for sport

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taizi · 4 months

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in the mouth of the world

one piece word count: 1k written for @op-secret-santa 2023 and my giftee was @viktorclawthorne ! viktor, two of your favorite characters are zoro and sanji, and one of your favorite pairings is platonic zolu, so this is what i came up with. i really, really hope you like it !

read on ao3

Sanji is in the kitchen, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, hair tied back with one of Usopp’s scrunchies, trying to remember if the raspberry or the pistachio macarons went over better last time. His friends inhaled them all in a matter of minutes, but Sanji can’t recall which ones went first.

In the end, he goes with mango. The fruits are ripe, cheerful orange, and their color pings as appropriate in his mind.

These pastries are finicky at best, and a punishment from god at worst, so leveling the battlefield by removing extra heat and moisture from his workstation is always step one. As a result, the room is very cool, the door propped open to let in the crisp winter air, a fan borrowed from Franky’s workshop whirring away in the corner.

Zoro and Luffy are in the galley, sitting around the scarred kitchen table—ostensibly to keep Sanji company while he works, but more likely just waiting around to see if they get tossed any scraps.

As Sanji whips meringue, he finds his attention wandering back to the two of them in time to pick up part of their conversation.

“—be anything,” Luffy is saying, spreading his arms out wide as if to encompass the full scope of just how big the concept is he’s talking about. “There are no rules and it can be as weird or funny as you want! What would you pick?”

Zoro hums, giving it some thought. A stranger might be surprised to learn it, Sanji thinks, given how severe and forbidding their first mate appears at a glance, but he is generally the first to fold when it comes to catering to their captain’s whims. This terror of a swordsman, this nightmare of a pirate, simply follows Luffy’s every step without even looking to see where it might lead, like a no-nonsense Belgian Shepherd plodding along behind a bouncy border collie.

That’s true for battle and danger as much as it’s true for shenanigans. Zoro is worth millions, is as much a killer and a criminal as any of those other Wanted men his posters are displayed beside, but he isn’t afraid to look silly. Not if it’s Luffy reaching back for him, sunny grin amped up to eleven, calling Zoro, you too! Come with me!

Zoro says, “Time, then.”

Luffy rocks up in his seat, eyes round and impressed, and says, “Time travel? Like the Fruit that Momonosuke’s mom ate, that sends you forward?”

“Mm. But mine would go backwards,” Zoro explains, leaning into the game of make-believe. “It would only work one time and it would start me back at the very beginning.”

Zoro’s birthday was a month ago, and Sanji made a dark chocolate truffle cake infused with enough liqueur that he guiltily baked a lighter version for the younger half of the crew. But Zoro had taken one bite of the boozy dessert and his eyebrows flew up to his hairline. He doesn’t usually go in for sweets, but the bitterness of the chocolate paired with the velvet smoothness of the liqueur seemed to win him over instantly.

It isn’t in their nature to thank each other openly. From as far back as Thriller Bark, the best things they know about each other are secrets kept from everyone else. But Zoro took a second piece when Robin’s extra hands offered him one, which said much more than any effusive praise would have anyway.

Just last week, it was Chopper’s birthday, and Sanji whipped up about a hundred triple-strawberry cupcakes, filled with ganache, topped with cloud-like icing and sugared fruit and sprinkles, and it was worth it for the way his little brother’s face went slack with awe when he took in the spread.

Until Robin and Vivi’s birthdays in February, there are no specialized desserts Sanji needs to prepare. His nakama will sometimes have a craving, and he tends to keep sweet things on deck for those nights when sleep is not forthcoming, for those cloudy days when it’s hard to see the sun waiting for them beyond the storm, but he rarely makes macarons just for fun.

The timing, the temperature, the moisture, all of it has to be exact, or the shells will crack, or the feet will spread, or they’ll come out hollow. It’s not a hard recipe, it’s just annoying. It’s the last thing he learned from Zeff, because he perfected every other dish on the menu well before he made a halfway decent batch of macarons.

No one asked for these. Sanji is well-aware that he doesn’t have to be standing here, sacrificing the bulk of his day to this thankless task, but he’s already in it now. The buttercream and mango curd are ready, and the shells are about to go in the oven.

“A one-time Fruit!” Luffy exclaims. Zoro could have said he would pick a Fruit that would turn his hair a different color every day and Luffy would have sounded equally as fascinated. “You would go all the way back? Do you want to change that much?”

“My Fruit wouldn’t work that way,” Zoro explains simply. “I wouldn’t be able to change anything or the future I was from where I used the Fruit wouldn’t exist, would it? It would have to stay exactly the same for me to get back there.”

Zoro doesn’t want a Fruit—neither does Sanji. They spend half their lives dragging their nakama who are already anchors out of the sea.

Besides that, Sanji wants to meet All Blue properly the day he finds her. He’s going to swim for hours and hours and barely remember to come up for air. A Fruit would only take from him more than it could ever give.

And Zoro has never cut corners when it comes to his own strength. But there’s something in his tone that makes Sanji wonder if he’s thought about this before.

“What if you wanted to, though?” Luffy asks. “Or what if you had the chance to stop something bad before it happened?”

“No changes,” Zoro says adamantly. “No diversions. I would have to live it all over again.”

Sanji remembers all the stories Luffy tells his crew about the trouble he and his brothers got into when they were children. He said there was a pâtisserie in High Town where chefs and bakers created decadent desserts catered only to the nobles. When they snuck around that part of the kingdom, a brightly-colored dessert in the display window there would always catch Ace’s eye.

Once, Sabo and Luffy broke into that pastry shop in the dead of night at the end of December, and made off with as many of those colorful macarons as they could carry.

“Ace was angry,” Luffy laughed through his retelling. “He told Sabo we were lucky we didn’t get caught and have our hands chopped off. But he hugged me for a long time after he yelled at me. The cookies were for him, you know? For his birthday! You have to have your favorite on your birthday.” Luffy had smiled as if it didn’t hurt at all when he added, “Even back then, Ace was bad at being loved. Sabo said he just needed more practice. He said that’s what Ace had us for.”

“And then at the end,” Zoro says, “when I catch up to the future, and I’m back where I started, I would have more time.”

“How much more time?” Luffy asks.

“Not much,” Zoro admits. “Maybe a few minutes. The time I took to use the Fruit before would be free for me to use differently.”

“You’d relive your whole adventure for a few extra minutes at the end?” their captain says, brow furrowing while he makes sense of it. “Would it be worth it?”

Zoro sits back in his chair, his dark eye fixed on his captain the same way sailors follow Polaris relentlessly across the fathomless sea, and says, “Yes.”

The final baking tray goes into the oven. The macarons will be ready for tomorrow night, for the party they’re going to throw at the close of the year. At midnight, Sanji will cart them out—bright orange, each of them painted with whimsical little whorls of red—and they’ll wish Ace a happy birthday, wherever he is. They’ll wish he was still here to scold his baby brother and eat stolen pastries at midnight with the people who loved him best. They’ll resolve to protect Luffy and enjoy sweets in his name.

It’ll be a good night. Luffy will be surrounded by his nakama and the open arms of the sea. If the macarons make him remember something sad, he won’t be alone. Luffy—unlike his brothers—is very good at being loved.

Sanji washes his hands, sets the timer, and then calls over, “Hey, idiots, what do you want for dinner?”

Luffy appears beside him as if summoned by a magic spell, hopping up to sit on the counter before Sanji has a chance to wipe it down, sending up a little cloud of almond flour.

“Beef!” he declares predictably.

“That stew you made with red wine that one time,” comes Zoro’s contribution from where he’s still lounging at the table.

Beef burgundy it is, Sanji thinks, hauling out his biggest soup pot. He nudges Luffy’s knee out of the way so he can close the cabinet door but otherwise leaves the young captain where he is.

“Sanji,” Luffy asks brightly, “if you could have any Devil’s Fruit in the whole world, what would you choose?”

“One that would make me a better swimmer,” Sanji replies without missing a beat, and turns his head to hide his smile when Luffy bursts into loud, ringing peals of laughter.

But that strange, tricky, highly specific Fruit that Zoro dreamed up—one that would make him relive his life and everything he’s ever done, everything he’s endured, all the pain and fear and joy and breathless wonder, all for the sake of an extra minute at the end—a minute he could use to look up at Polaris one last time and say thanks for taking me with you. You didn’t have to do that. I hope I was everything to you that you were to me—

That wouldn’t be so bad, either.

#op-secret-santa-2023 #op #opfic #black leg sanji #roronoa zoro #monkey d luffy #my writing #viktorclawthorne #title borrowed from 'cold solace' by anna belle kaufman #just in case u needed a good cry lol

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the-s1lly-corner · 5 months

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Ookay this one is really really tooth rotting fluff level

Tadc x reader who just realized christmas is coming, and is freaking out with absolute glee and childlike wonder

TADC cast x reader who loves christmas!

AAAAAA im so so sorry i could have sworn i answered this but i guess i didnt??? i promise i didnt mean to leave this in the inbox this long on purpose i think i must have lost track of stuff </3 regardless, i hope you enjoy! admin must admit, asides from presents and the christmas tree, he doesnt do many holiday activities so... admin is underqualified for this but hes still gonna try! a lot of the character segments intertwine in this btw! like not in a "similar idea" thing but in a "they are actually overlapping and interacting with one another" way so !! side note unrelated to the post eheheheh the second batch of macarons have been piped! theyre now on the counter set out to dry, and ive got my ganaches out to get to room temperature so i can whip em up into a frosting :3

CAINE:

oh i just know that caine would lean hard into holiday stuff, plus i think he has the best sense of time in the digital world out of everyone.. plus he just seems like the kind of guy to celebrate all sorts of holidays, not just christmas! year round stuff, you know? not just winter... so you guys would likely team up and totally deck out the grounds to match the holiday spirit! sure caine on his own already puts in way too much effort decorating everything, he even makes it snow! but with you around he cranks it up to 11! lets just hope there arent any scrooges around, though.... also prepare yourself because he would definitely find a way to have christmas music play on loop in the background... somewhere... ambient music but its festive songs... i think caine is also the one responsible for most of the presents, since he can basically get most things with just a flick of his wrist! ooooo perhaps a date (platonic or romantic! up to you!) where you guys wrap the gifts together!

POMNI:

funny enough, while i usually think pomni would SUCK at cooking, i think she can make a mean hot coco. granted, hot coco and/or hot chocolate arent the hardest things to make, but... i dont know, its just different when she makes it... (recommendation from the admin, add a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg to your hot coco its a game changer frfr, this goes for a lot of chocolate stuff, actually. its like the chocolate-coffee effect but like. makes a different flavor profile. add a bit of nutmeg to your chocolate chip goodies. rn.)

anyways! pomni always keeps you supplied with hot coco, and honestly it benefits you both! keeps you nice and warm, plus its delicious; and it gives pomni something to do... i mean, its christmas... surely she can take it easy from trying to find the exit... just for the season... helps with her anxiety about the whole situation, you know? making digital food sure is weird, though...

RAGATHA:

as mentioned in gangles part, she joins you and gangle in helping making a skirt for the tree! keeping up with the idea of sewing things, i think she would also make stockings for everyone; leaving most of them blank so everyone can customize them however they like... but you and her get together to decorate your own together and just !! i just think thats sweet! depending on how soon caine starts putting the christmas stuff around, you and her might be able to make some ugly sweaters for yourselves! thats a christmas thing, right? oooo and they match.... OOOO YOU GUYS MAKE AN EXTRA LONG SCARF FOR YOU GUYS TO SHARE!!!! rolls around... she makes you mittens so you can go mess around in the snow caine put all over the grounds

JAX:

snowball fight. and i mean really intense once. in fact it wouldnt be too much of a stress to call it a snowball WAR! honestly jax might just be the type to put rocks in his snowballs.... but because this is meant to be nice and sweet, he wont... just this once, and because he feels TOO mean crushing your holiday spirit (even if your digital body would quickly recover from the possible injury...)

you guys make forts and go absolutely ham. the stuff ragatha had made for the two of you! i mean sure you guys cant succumb to hypothermia, buuuuuuuuuut being really painfully cold still sucks... but the sweaters help you guys stay out for longer to play! and you can perhaps ask pomni to make some hot coco

oh yes its all coming together

ooo perhaps you convince jax to make snow angels and snowmen with you... though, i think jax would make the snowmen purposefully unappealing... but maybe you think hes actually trying his best... oh you jolly little thing..

KINGER:

okay so i admit this one might be a stretch and its mostly because his robe already has the fur and he gives off grandpa energy (even though hes only 48 but hey some grandpas become grandpas young) but imagine somehow someway he dresses up as santa (and i say that loosely, his robe turns red and the fur turns a plain white), bonus if he wears a hat to tie in the entire look. while caine is the one getting the gifts and wrapping them, i like to think kinger would ask to be the one to put them under the tree at an ungodly hour. sweet man. chews

as for an interaction with the reader... hmm.. hes the last character im writing, everyone else already has their parts done... the one christmas activity i can think of that hasnt been taken yet is baking! honestly i can see him being a decent chef! maybe its the dad/granddad energy speaking to me again... perhaps its the admin projecting... buuuut imagine you two make shaped cookies togehter; stars, candy canes, trees, bells, ect... and you ice them together! sure they may not be the prettiest or look the most professional; but does that really matter when youre having fun? they still taste delicious!

ZOOBLE:

ok i get it, i tend to lean hard into the zooble being negative and/or unimpressed with things a liiiiiiiiittle too often, but again zooble doesnt strike me as the type to enjoy most holidays. they seem more of a halloween person to me, you know? though, i think that they would switch out their antennae for ones that resemble antlers more... or if they dont have those, they string lights up on them! all for you, just because they know how excited the holiday makes you. they dont care about many things, but they care about you... and if it means doing (harmless) things they normally wouldnt do, then so be it! dont expect them to get in on many holiday activities, though...

GANGLE:

you and her make decorations for the grounds and the giant digital tree caine put in the main common area! handmade ornaments, paper stars and snowflakes, things like that! you and gangle stay up take cutting each thing, applying the colors and the glitter and any small details.... dozens of times.... because caine chose a tree that was way too big than it needed to be.... oh you might have to have gangle on your shoulders so she can reach the higher points of the tree! sits and thinks.... ooouuuuuuuuugh you guys make a skirt for the tree together with the help of ragatha... little group activity... sobs...

#tadc x reader #the amazing digital circus x reader #digital circus x reader #caine x reader #pomni x reader #ragatha x reader #jax x reader #kinger x reader #zooble x reader #gangle x reader

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spontaneousmusicalnumber · 21 days

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For the past.... idk, several months? I've had a quest marker in my brain:

❗ Eat tuxedo cake

No idea why. Just a random craving that, unlike all others, hasn't gone away. I could just ALWAYS really go for a cake with a ganache top and several layers of whipped filling.

And for the past several months I've tried to ignore it or fulfill it with similar things I'm already getting. Like, ok! Brain wants sweets? We're already getting chocolate muffins. How about some ice cream this week. Etc. And nothing ever really hit the spot. But every time I'd look at the grocery store cake display it was always juuuuust a little expensive to justify buying on a whim.

Until last night, when I realized that 'whim' has lasted since at least November and I spent $18.99 on a tuxedo cake. And damn if it didn't hit the fucking spot.

#my posts #is there a moral here?#heck if I know #food

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sfsolstice · 2 months

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another lacking baked good, and this time, light mousse only whispers dark cocoa, and bright effervescence escapes orange jelly—

am i growing too ambitious, too eccentric, too convoluted for my own good, or did the years my hands lived forget me?

i fear i have grown too big for this world, allowing half-sincere words to inflate this ego, convinced i could be one of the greats, but

i am no baker, no chef claire saffitz— just a kid who slaps together half-baked ideas and whips ganache into unsavory messes;

nor a poet, no sweet sylvia plath— just a girl who ties drab feelings into words like strings of fake, ugly pearls, and tries

dear reader, to convince you they're worth seeing, and as much as i dig my fists into the ground to pull from it my long-buried conviction,

and as much as this universe allows these insipid words to fall from my lips into the hand that writes half-legible script,

i am no poet— just half-baked words and half-baked dreams, nothing to eat or worthy enough to read.

— s. f. solstice, "there is no dessert"

#poets on tumblr #poets of tumblr #poets corner #poets community #spilled ink #spilled poetry #original poem #poem #poetry #sfsolstice #i bet you can guess how the choc orange tart turned out :')#its not bad really just certain parts that were lacking #my dad at least liked it

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vipesterix · 6 months

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If you're here from my previous post and/or have stumbled upon this yourself, below me are research papers (recipes) for sweet and savory abnormalities! Part 1

Mountain of Smiling Bodies cake bites > Apologies in advance, I don't quite have a "recipe" for this one I just did it as I went. Best way I can explain it is: - I used store-bought cake mix, added a spoonful of yogurt + coffee ( since it was chocolate and these are my preferences) - Then once the cake was made, I used store-bought frosting and basically hand-kneaded it all together to form cake bites. ^ If you want to make some with a gaping mouth, just poke your finger into them or shape them accordingly. - Then I broke up Pocky Sticks and inserted them into the cake balls, then let chill. - After that, I would highly recommend doing chocolate ganache and NOT just heat up chocolate chips. You want the chocolate to be flowy enough to spoon over them, you get the gist. Plus the ganache makes it a darker color and more shiny. ^ For ganache, it's just a cup of chocolate chips, and then around a half a cup of Heavy Whipping Cream. I just kind of eyeballed it, sorry.

Punishing Bird Pâte à Choux (Cream Puffs) ^ For this one, I used a lovely recipe by Preppy Kitchen. Love his recipes/stuff and HIGHLY recommend this one. I've used it for a while now and it's my favorite. - Here is the recipe: https://preppykitchen.com/passionfruit-cream-puffs/ - After that, I added powder sugar on top, added two chocolate chips for the eyes, then a strawberry slice for the tummy. ^ These are going to be MUCH more savory if you do not fill them. So if you like that, then these are for you. That being said, I would highly recommend a strawberry/fruit sauce to go with it! Scorching Girl Pretzel Sticks ^ This one I feel is pretty self explanatory - Grabbed some pretzel rods, broke them in half, made a chocolate coating by heating up chocolate chips, dipped them in, then let chill. ^ Make sure to let the first layer of chocolate chill before you put the red on. And for those I used chocolate wafers.

--==--==--==--==--==--==

And that concludes part 1 to the Lobotomy Corporation Sweet and Savory Abnormalities Recipe Guide!

#lobotomy corporation #lobcorp #lobocorp #mountain of smiling bodies #punishing bird #scorching girl #projectmoon

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saltchipfishshop · 1 year

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Vegan Passover Pecan-Banoffee Pie: my magnum opus

I set out with a dream. An impossible dream. To create a vegan dessert for my synagogue seder that was also kitniyot-free. Did I have to do this? Not really, my shul allows anything vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian that doesn’t have chametz, and we have a section for kitniyot. Am I vegan? No. Do I even keep kosher for Passover myself? Also no. But, you see, I have an almost pathological need to feed as many people as possible, and I am intractably stubborn, so once I realised how difficult this was going to be it only made me dig my heels in further.

It turns out to be borderline impossible to find vegan substitutes for pretty much anything that don’t contain soy, oats, cornflour, chickpeas, or some sort of forbidden legume. Subsequently this recipe is heavily reliant on coconut milk; luckily for me I live in an area with a large Muslim population and it’s currently Ramadan, so tins of coconut are front and centre of every supermarket display.

It’s taken almost a full month of trial, error and meltdowns in the butter aisle of Sainsbury’s, but I finally did it. I had to cobble bits of the recipe together from half a dozen different sources, so I feel relatively justified in calling this my own invention. The pecan crust is borrowed from a Tori Avey cheesecake recipe, I just swapped pistachios for pecans. I really think the crust is what makes it, to be honest. You could probably skip the ganache layer if you can’t be bothered, I just feel like it helps cut through the sweetness.

Recipe under the cut. Please please tag me if anyone decides to make this! I would be so delighted to see it out there in the world.

Crust

84g (⅔ cup) pecans

60g (½ cup) matzo meal

66g (⅓ cup) granulated sugar

71g (5 tbsp) Kosher for Passover vegan margarine (Rakusen’s Tomor*), melted, + extra for greasing

Pinch of salt (optional)

Ganache

113g KFP vegan dark chocolate (Lindt Excellence 70%, Green & Black’s 70%, Green & Black’s cooking chocolate are all KFP)

113g coconut cream/full-fat coconut milk

A few drops of vanilla extract (optional)

Caramel

200g caster sugar

100g KFP vegan margarine (Tomor)

200g coconut cream/full-fat coconut milk

Whipped cream

200g coconut cream/full fat coconut milk, kept in the fridge overnight

15-45g KFP icing sugar (check it doesn’t contain maize starch. You could probably omit the sugar and leave the cream unsweetened if you can’t find it, or grind your own- there are recipes for Passover powdered sugar online.)

¼ tsp vanilla extract

3-4 bananas

cocoa powder or grated chocolate to serve (optional)

chopped pecans to serve (optional)

Method

Make the caramel. Place the sugar into a medium / large saucepan. Place the pan on the hob over a low heat. Allow the sugar to melt, this will take around 5-8 minutes. Don’t burn the sugar! Make sure to stir constantly to prevent burning. You can use a wooden spoon or heat proof spatula.

When all of the sugar has melted and is a golden / amber colour, add in the margarine. Be careful, as the sugar is very hot. Remove the pan from the heat and stir to combine. Allow the margarine to melt into the sugar. It might bubble but that's fine. Once it’s combined, it might have a thick consistency. It might look like the margarine isn’t mixing with the sugar, but it should combine once you add the cream. Now add in 200g coconut cream. It will steam and bubble again so be careful.

Add the pan on the heat and allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes to help thicken it up.

Remove the pan from the heat. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes, then transfer / pour the caramel into a heat proof jar. Place the jar into the fridge. Allow to chill overnight. The coconut cream for the whipped cream should also be kept in the fridge overnight, to encourage it to separate and firm up.

If the caramel separates overnight, use an electric whisk to combine into a smooth consistency until there are no remaining lumps. It’ll be a more custard-like texture but still delicious. Keep caramel in the fridge until needed.

Make the crust. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease a loose-bottomed tin with margarine and line with greaseproof paper.

Blitz the pecans in the food processor until finely processed. Add matzo meal, salt and sugar and pulse until the entire crust is uniform in colour. With the processor on, drizzle the melted butter into the machine.

Once all the butter has been added, turn the processor off and dump the wet crumbs into the bottom of the lined pan. Using the back of a spoon, press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan (it doesn’t have to go all the way up, just as much as you can).

Place the crust in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges of the crust start to brown a bit and smells fragrant. Leave crust to cool for about ten minutes and then transfer to the fridge to finish cooling.

Make the ganache. Finely chop the chocolate and put in a medium-sized bowl. Put 200g coconut cream in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in the microwave for about 1 minute, watching to make sure it doesn’t bubble over.

Pour the warm cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Don't stir yet.

After 2-3 minutes, whisk the chocolate/melted coconut milk until smooth. Add vanilla if desired. Let cool in the fridge for around 30 minutes.

Make the whipped coconut cream. Chill a mixing bowl in the fridge for ten minutes (you can do this while the ganache is cooling to save time). Put 200g coconut cream (the thick white part, not the clear liquid) in the chilled bowl. Beat for 30 seconds with an electric whisk until creamy. Add vanilla and icing sugar and mix until creamy and smooth – about 1 minute. Avoid overwhipping because it can cause separation. Taste and adjust sweetness as needed.

Carefully run a knife around the edge of the crust tin and remove the crust from the tin.

Spread a layer of the cooled ganache over the bottom of the crust. Top with a layer of sliced banana and return to the fridge to set for ten minutes.

Add a layer of the caramel, another layer of sliced banana, and return to the fridge for ten minutes again.

Top with the whipped cream (I like to leave the edge of the bananas visible around the edge). Dust with cocoa powder or grated chocolate and add chopped pecans if desired.

*Tomor contains sunflower oil, but sunflower oil is not considered kitniyot in England: https://www.kosher.org.uk/article/sunflower-oil-kitniyot

#Passover recipe #pesach 5783 #pesach 2023 #pesach recipe #passover #Passover 5783 #Passover 2023 #Passover food #pesach food #פסח 5783 #פסח #פסח שמח #jumblr #judaism #jewish #jewish food #kosher #kosher food #kashrut

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thessalian · 3 months

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Thess vs Birthday Stuff

Okay, so, time to practice the answer to the "how old are you?" question:

47. ...Yes, really. (I may have got some increasingly disbelieving reactions from the lady who did my hair today.)

Anyway, pretty low-key birthday, given that the vast majority of gifting from the parentals was done and dusted (though in honour of where my present allotment went this year, I looked at my Critical Role cast autographs and it still makes me smile as much as it did on the day, so I have zero regrets). Mum didn't want to let the day go uncelebrated, though, so she made me an appointment at the hair salon she goes to - which she picked because a) the lady does a good job with her hair and b) travelling to find someplace that will cut my hair well at a price I can easily afford is hard for me, and her hairdresser is nearby. For someone who is as notoriously non-tactile as I am, I still surprisingly find the "having my hair washed" part of the whole process to be my favourite part of the whole thing. But now my hair is nice and short, just how I like it, and I no longer look like a Briard.

Anyway, while I was having my hair done, Mum went to the Japanese place in East Dulwich I like but can seldom afford and picked up sushi, which she brought back to eat in the comfort of my sitting room. She's found a way to balance "don't make me cook on my birthday" and "don't make me sit in a loud crowded restaurant on my birthday", which is nice, let me tell you. Though for my own part, I spent last night baking, because I wanted a birthday cake and I can't just buy one like a normal, gluten-tolerant person. Behold:

Chocolate cake with whipped chocolate mint ganache frosting. Also little sugar stars to make the thing look more festive. Mum almost finished her entire slice (she did entirely demolish the frosting, so I guess I come by the "GIVE ME THE FROSTING" thing I have going on honestly), which is always my benchmark for having done well. I also had a slice, obviously, but I sent a big chunk home with her so that my stepfather could have some. I'd love to have them both here at the same time, but apparently their dog, Digby, is ever so slightly co-dependent and they prefer one of them be home with him at all times.

Oh, speaking of dogs, a couple of bits of news about the whole "getting flats renovated" thing. (This will make sense in a minute, I swear.) So my stepfather has been working his ass off on the other flat - the original flat I was living in, the one that's going to be an investment flat of sorts when all the work is done on both that one and this one. The plan is to finish the work on that one, move me back into that one until this one is fixed up - which it needs desperately; pulling up this fucking carpet for a start, and dear gods a shower pump - and then have me finally settle into this one when it's not full of horrible peach carpet and carpeting in the fucking bathroom (WHO DOES THAT?!?). There will be a pause on the "him working his ass off" thing because he pushed too hard and has managed to do himself an injury so bad he couldn't manage the stairs in his own home for a week. But he's insisting on doing all of this himself, for some insane reason.

Point is that in the week of mad working, he discovered that the neighbours in the flat next to the one he's working in have a dog. Why is this a big deal? Because the management company that manages the building has a "no pets" policy. Now, we've been pretty sure that at least one person in the building has a cat, but it's harder to prove cats than it is to prove dogs, who require regular trips outside. Anyway, we've been keeping to the "no pets" policy, but my mother in particular has hated doing it because she firmly believes that I would do better with some small living furry companionship around the house. I'm not saying she's wrong, mind you.

Anyway, the point is, she tells me this while we're finishing up our sushi, then tells me that once all the stuff with the flats is finally sorted, they will get me the small furry pets of my choosing. Because apparently, or so said my mother's tone of voice, "They get to have a fucking dog, and my daughter can't have a pet at all? Fuck that and fuck them!"

(I come by my stubborn-and-petty honestly, too.)

She's also very much come around to the idea of me having pet rats, at least partly because I refuse to have a pet cat, however much I might want one. In winter, I have to keep the doors to the various rooms closed to keep the heat in (and the heating bill down), and it's not fair to cram a cat into too small a space. Besides, this place isn't designed to have a decent space for a litter box, and rats are somewhat less likely to eat my plants and get sick. So anyway, point is that I have so many more reasons to really hope the renovations and stuff get done soon. I just wish my stepfather would hire a fucking contractor, for his own sake. He's going to hurt himself badly doing that shit.

Anyway, a happy birthday to me, all told. Not that I did much - had my hair done, got fed sushi, had a rather glorious nap - but honestly, that's probably enough for me at this point. And a whole week off stretches out before me. A week of sleeping in, video games, maybe making myself some more potato soup... Oh, and banana bread. I have a plan that involves adding chocolate chips and peanut butter chips to the next batch of banana bread. I've just got really into banana bread lately. It's easy, it's filling, and maybe I just need the potassium, I dunno.

#Thess has a birthday #Thess has parental units #Thess cooks

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mochegato · 9 months

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Never Gonna Say Goodbye

Marinette took a deep breath before delicately pushing her elbow into the Queen manor doorbell so she wouldn’t risk dropping the three-tier cake she was barely able to support. She’d had to focus all of her attention and brain power into not tripping, because if she dropped this cake now, she might actually cry. She had spent three days doing nothing but work and the cake and decorations and had lost more than a few hours of sleep during that time. She’d actually lost more sleep than she’d gotten, but who was counting?

Her single-minded focus had the added benefit that she hadn’t had the mental capacity to think about how she was going to be seeing Roy for the first time since he’d moved to New York without saying goodbye to her. She had thought they were building toward something. Up until he moved, she had been spending a good portion of her time with him and Lian, eating dinners together, her and Lian baking together, her and Roy sharing a glass of wine and chatting into the late night.

And then there was the kiss. The single hottest, most toe-curling, skin tingling kiss she’d ever had. A goodbye, be safe, come home to me kiss before he went on a mission. But then she found out he was planning on leaving. Not from him. Oh no, he didn’t say a word to her. No, she learned it from Jason, who assumed she knew, because why wouldn’t she? She and Roy talked about everything else.

Until that moment. Because after that, they didn’t speak… at all. About anything. He left, moved to the other side of the country, and never said a thing. And now she had to spend an entire night in the same room with him. If it had been up to her, she wouldn't have even come. But this was for Lian… and Jason, but she was more concerned about Lian. She wasn’t going to miss a chance to celebrate Lian’s birthday. She hadn't stopped talking to her when Roy had shut her out, she certainly wasn’t going to stop being there for her even if it came with having to fracture her heart. One more fracture wouldn’t be noticed.

She almost kissed Jason when he finally opened the door for her and cautiously took the cake from her. “Hey Pixie Pop! I was worried you weren’t going to make it,” he teased, but there was an edge of authenticity in his words.

She smiled at him and bumped her hip into his thigh. “I just wanted to do some last-minute touch ups.”

“And it had nothing to do with getting lost… intentionally?” he joked.

Marinette rolled her eyes, knowing full well that he could feel it even if he couldn’t see it. “No,” she insisted. “And I’m here and I’m smiling and not hiding, so be nice.”

Jason stopped and turned to face her with a solemn look. “I got you. You know that right? You don’t even have to ask, I’m there for you.”

Marinette’s lips widened into a watery smile. If he hadn’t been holding his cake, she really would have kissed him… on the cheek. “Yeah, I know. Thank you, Jason.”

He maintained eye contact for a few more seconds, making absolutely sure she believed her own words, before nodding and continuing into the dining room.

As soon as they entered into the room, everyone was on them, trailing after the cake like large ducklings. “What did you make?” Wally asked. Marinette cursed him and herself under her breath, him for scaring her and herself because she should know better. She always had to be on guard for him to just show up right in front of her out of nowhere.

“Well, Lian said she wanted chocolate so…” she trailed off, turning dramatically, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “It’s chocolate chiffon cake with chocolate chips, chocolate hazelnut mousse filling, whipped chocolate caramel ganache, chocolate Italian meringue buttercream, with chocolate macaroons and pink and milk chocolate decorations on the top.”

Tim’s eyes had gotten wider with every utterance of the word chocolate until his eyes resembled a bush baby. “That’s a lot of chocolate, isn’t it?” he asked carefully.

“You shut your filthy mouth,” Jason growled, pushing him away from the cake so he could observe it. “It’s Lian and my birthdays and we want chocolate.”

“You have a problem with chocolate, you can walk yourself home,” Stephanie hissed.

“I drove,” Tim hissed back.

“There’s coffee in the cake and I brought coffee ice cream,” Marinette cut in placatingly.

Tim slowly turned away from Stephanie to size Marinette up, his eyes narrowed as he weighed her offering. He maintained his position for four long beats before nodding. “Yeah, okay,” he shrugged.

Jason smacked the back of his head, but it lacked the normal strength behind it. “Just enjoy the cake, Timbo.” He looked over to Marinette anxiously. “But that’s a lot of coffee for a five-year-old. Not that I’m judging!” he added on quickly. “I’m just… helping put Lian to sleep tonight.”

“You’re okay with the massive amounts of sugar but not the tiny bit of caffeine?” Dick asked.

Jason glared at him and opened his mouth to snap at him, but Marinette cut in again before he could. This was Lian’s birthday party. She was not going to let petty bickering ruin it. “I also brought vanilla ice cream and made raspberry sauce to accompany it if anyone wants. It’s not all coffee.”

“That sounds absolutely amazing,” Stephanie breathed as she stared at the cake, her mouth watering. “So, ah, for no particular reason, do we know when is the birthday girl is going to sho…”

“Marinette!” a small voice screeched, pushed through the people standing around, and barreled into Marinette’s legs, almost knocking her down. She would have fallen back into the cake if it weren’t for Jason’s steadying arm holding her up.

Marinette picked her up instantly and set her on her hip with a kiss to her head. “Happy birthday, Lian!”

“Hey, where was my birthday kiss?” Jason quipped as he kissed Lian on the other side of her head.

Marinette met Lian’s eyes and rolled her own dramatically, causing the birthday girl to burst out in giggles. She gave Lian another kiss and smirked at Jason. “It’s there. You’re going to have to talk to Lian if you want to get it back.” She looked up and caught Roy’s gaze with a timid smile. Roy smiled back, bright and charming, almost like the ones he used to give her, but slightly more strained. The difference broke her heart. She turned away quickly so he wouldn’t see her smile falter.

Jason jumped between them and patted Roy on the shoulder. “Good to see you. I mean I suppose, you brought Lian and all so I guess you’re okay,” he offered with a smirk.

Roy groaned and shoved him away. “This is my house, idiot.”

Marinette took advantage of the reprieve to center herself. She focused on something other than Roy’s soul-shattering smile until her heart slowed to a manageable rate so she could shake it off and paste on a brilliant smile for Lian. “How was your first day at school? How was your teacher? Was she as amazing as you hoped? Did you get to do lots of fun things and meet lots of fun new friends?”

She was grateful she had a good grip on Lian, because the little girl had suddenly squealed loudly and started bouncing on Marinette’s hip, unable to contain her excitement. “It was so much fun! I met so many new people and I showed them my new Hello Kitty backpack. There was another girl there. Well, there was more than one, but Rose had a Hello Kitty shirt on. We’re best friends now. We even get to sit at the same table! We played on the bars together. She can’t do a flip yet, but I can. We’re going to work on it Monday. I can’t wait for Monday!”

Marinette grinned at her excitement. “That sounds amazing, honey. I’m so glad you’re having fun.” She hugged her. “You were so brave. I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah, I was scared when I first got there and Daddy left and I was all alone. But then I remembered you said I should try and be brave because you bet it would be fun and I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try,” Lian rushed out in one breath. “And it was. You were right,” she cheered.

Marinette had been so focused on Lian; she’d missed Roy coming over to watch them together. His brow furrowed as he tried to work something out. “When… um… when did she say that, Squeaker?”

“On Jay Jay’s phone before school. We talked forever,” she answered breathlessly and collapsed against Marinette dramatically but popped back up almost instantly. “Did you make the cake like you said you would? What did you make for the cake? You made the cake, right?” Her head whipped around in search of the cake. Her face scrunched in increasing distress when she couldn’t find it.

“First of all, hello to you too,” Jason huffed as he tweaked Lian’s nose causing her to giggle. “Second…” he stepped to the side to reveal the cake hidden behind him.

Lian gasped, her hands flew to her mouth as her eyes widened in wonder moments before she emitted a high-pitched noise. “It’s so pretty!” She hopped down and ran to the cake until her face had almost smashed into it.

Roy stepped up next to Marinette and watched Lian, his face considerably more somber than anyone else at the party, except perhaps Marinette. “It really looks amazing,” Roy agreed quietly. “You did an incredible job. Thank you for doing that and thank you for showing up.”

“It was Lian’s birthday,” she shrugged with forced nonchalance. “Of course, I came.”

Roy turned toward her. His eyes drove into her, fixing her with a weighted stare as he tried to read her, but no matter how long or intensely he stared at her, she refused to meet his gaze, fixing her own gaze at Lian, with an interest that would be more convincing if she were breathing. “Daddy! It’s so chocolatey!” Lian squealed, jumping into Roy’s arms. “Can we eat it now?”

Roy reluctantly tore his gaze from Marinette to catch Lian in time. “Not quite yet, sweetie. But we can look at it until it’s time. Come on, let’s go welcome your guests. I thought I saw a few kids wandering around.” He led her away but couldn’t stop himself from tossing a look over his shoulder in time to watch Marinette fall against Jason, his arms easily wrapping around her. He glowered at the familiarity but pasted his smile back on for Lian.

The party moved quickly, all the friends conversing and laughing easily, everyone seemed to be in a light, joyous mood, but all of it felt wrong to Marinette. She couldn’t breathe in the room. Surrounded by some of her favorite people, she couldn’t relax. She couldn’t enjoy the party. She smiled for Lian and cheered as she blew out her candle and squealed about how much she loved her cake, but she needed to get away, somewhere she could be on her own and away from the suffocating atmosphere. She let her feet lead her out into the Queen gardens, not paying attention to where her feet were taking her or who was noticing her leave, just letting her subconscious lead her away until she could finally take a full breath and then another.

Roy stepped up next to Marinette. Closer than he had been in ages. Close enough that he could hear her breaths and the way they sped up just slightly as he moved closer. He waited for her to initiate the conversation, but just like before, she didn’t say anything. She didn’t breach the void. It was clear. If he wanted to speak, it would be on him to start it. “This is one of my favorite places,” he offered. His voice tentative and soft. He may have had the bravery to initiate the conversation, but not to do so without shaking.

Marinette startled slightly and tore her eyes from the flower bush she’d been staring at to look around like she was just noticing where she was. “Oh, right. I remember,” she admitted, her voice light and slightly dreamy. “You brought me here before. Sorry. I didn’t… I was just wandering.”

He quirked his head as he examined her, usure how to proceed. Unsure how to move their relationship forward like he desperately wanted to. The last few months had been torture. He no longer knew how to live without Marinette there and each and every day he lived since that glorious kiss, had felt like a half-life. And now, he was lost and at a loss for words.

“Mari… I wanted to… um… I wanted to thank you… for continuing to talk with Lian. You mean a lot… to her. I think it would have broken her heart if she lost you. You can…” he broke off and looked away with a shrug. “You could always use my phone now. Call me… to talk to Lian.”

Marinette focused intently on the flower bush again, attempting to ignore the way her heart compressed until it felt like it had been squeezed so tightly it had become transparent. “I could… if you’re sure, I could do that,” she agreed. She focused even more intently when the flower bush began to swim until it was out of focus. She wanted to speak with Lian, but if she called Roy to speak to her, then she’d have to speak to Roy, and she wasn’t sure her heart could take that.

“You never said goodbye,” he said quietly, so quietly, she almost didn't hear it. So quiet, she wasn't sure she was supposed to.

Marinette blinked as she tried to process his words. “What?”

“I wanted… I was hoping you would come see me. Why didn't you see me before I left? I know you knew,” he answered, this time louder, more confident, though more vulnerable than before.

“Oh?” she asked, her voice sharp and pointed. There was a dangerous edge to it that any other time Roy would have noticed and heeded. “And how do you know I knew?

“Because people told me,” he glowered. “Jason told me you knew. He told me he told you.”

“Because you didn't," she snapped. "Because you took time to tell everyone who mattered to you. Because you made sure to sit down and go out and talk with everyone you cared about. Because you gave presents to people before you left, even the people who would be closer to you after the move.”

She stood as straight as possible, subconsciously making herself larger and more imposing. She stalked toward him. “But you never did any of that with me. So, no, I didn't seek you out. I didn't call you up or run to your apartment or take special time, because I knew you wouldn't care. Honestly, I didn't even think you'd noticed.”

“Oh?” he sneered. He leaned back toward her, towering over her even without trying to. “And what else do you know? I want to know what things I should rethink. Because if you were so epically wrong about that, I'm sure there are other things you've told me that are embarrassingly wrong.”

Marinette's anger flared; her eyes almost glowing in her fury. And then it was gone. She deflated with such speed, she had to blow out a breath from the force of the shift. She looked away but he could still see the heartbroken look in them. "Look, Roy, it’s late. I should get home. Thank you for allowing me to come tonight." Her voice was flat and tired, wrung of all emotion. She hesitated for just a moment like she wanted to add something, Roy held his breath for what she had to say, but then she left as silent as she’d been before he left.

The air seemed to fight Roy after she left. It refused to refresh him or fill his lungs even as he gasped for it. He pulled is hair until he could feel the pain radiating throughout his skull and groaned, the strength of it echoing throughout the garden. He paced up and down the path a few times kicking some of the hedges as he moved.

That hadn’t gone how he’d anticipated at all, let alone how he’d hoped. He’d anticipated it at least not getting worse, but he’d hoped she’d fall into his arms and apologize for cutting him out. But instead… this. He yelled again and kicked a hedge but groaned when he accidentally caught the corner of a stone bench.

He paced a few more times before his mind cleared up enough for him to finally think. She had been waiting on him. He’d been waiting for her to say something after their kiss and had assumed when she didn’t say anything, even knowing he was leaving, he’d assumed that was her comment on what she wanted, or rather, didn’t want. That she didn’t want him. That the kiss hadn’t been as tantalizing and mind-blowing for her as it was for him. But she’d been waiting on him. She hadn’t ended it, he had… and she was getting away again.

He raced through the gardens and into the dining room, pausing only a few moments to scan the crowd for her, before continuing through to the driveway. He stopped in the doorway searching for her again, hoping and praying he hadn’t messed it up again because he waited. Luckily, this time spotting her just a few steps from her car. “Marinette!” he yelled as he ran after her, not slowing down until he was a few feet away from her, not willing to risk her deciding to leave for good.

He slid to a stop in front of her, chest heaving and eyes wild. “I noticed," he said breathlessly.

She blinked at him; her eyes open owlishly wide. "What?"

“I... I noticed,” he repeated. He reached out to run his hand along her face but pulled his hand back at the last second with a groan. “Fuck, Mari, it's all I thought about for weeks, months. Why didn't you call? Why didn't you come see me? Why didn't you care? I could have sworn you did but then...” He threw his arms out in frustration. When he looked back at her, his eyes were intense, deep and swimming with emotion. “How could you think I didn't care? That you weren't the most important thing to me?”

She studied his eyes until her own started to water and her lips pulled down in an anguished pout. “How was I supposed to know?” she begged, desperate for some guidance. “You never called. You never came to see me. This massive thing happened in your life and you just...” she threw her arms out as well before meeting his gaze, but instead of the intense emotion his held, hers was resigned. “And I knew. I knew I was just another girl to you. Just another one of those women you loved and left. Just another hero you got caught up in a rush emotions with.”

She tried to look away when the tears started to fall, but Roy was having none of it. He cupped her face and gently brushed away her tears. “You were never just another anything.” He moved closer until their chests were almost touching, his hands never leaving her face. “You are the single most amazing woman I know. You are brilliant and kind and creative and loving and supportive. Just the thought of you makes me smile. Even when I thought you hated me, thinking of you made me smile until the realization set in. These past few months have been miserable. New York hasn’t felt like home this entire time and it’s because you weren’t around to talk to. You’ve become my home.”

Her tears were now falling so rapidly, he couldn’t keep up with them any longer. She lurched at him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his chest. “I thought you didn’t care,” she managed between sobs. “And I cared so much about you. You and Lian mean so much to me. It hurt so much.”

Roy’s lips were on hers in an instant, insistent and forceful trying to force out the pain with his fervor. She responded in kind, pushing up against him and winding her hands into his hair to pull him closer. He groaned as her fingernails grazed his scalp, and pulled her closer until her body had molded to his, no space between them. His arms wound around her waist and shoulders, holding her in place for only a few moments before his hands started to wander, caressing her sides and back and eventually down to her thighs. He lifted her up and set her on her car, pushing between her legs to get closer and encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist.

She groaned at the sensation but pushed him back just far enough to breathe. She looked up at him from under her lashes, chest heaving. “I think we need to slow down. Get back to where we were first.”

Roy nodded breathlessly. His eyes searched her face like he was trying to make sure it hadn’t changed in his time away, reassuring himself that her cheeks still curved the same, her lips still bowed the same, and the same flecks still radiated out from her pupil. “I’m so sorry I hurt you. I promise I’ll do everything in my power to never make you cry again,” he promised, his breath fanning out against her lips.

Marinette smiled and let her eyes wander his face as well. “Maybe we can start with a date,” she offered.

Roy’s smile widened, back to the brilliant and charming smile she was used to. “How about tonight? Now?”

Marinette giggled at him. “Now? What about the party? Lian?”

He gestured wildly to wave away her concern. “It’s Oliver’s house and Jason already planned on putting Lian to bed he’ll be fine doing it on his own and Lian would love for me to take you on a date. Come on, let’s go now. It would be her favorite birthday present.”

She looked unsure for just a second as she contemplated his words, but then a brilliant smile overtook her lips and she nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go,” she agreed, “but first…” she pulled him into another toe-curling kiss, the first of many, many more to come.

@maribatserver

#maribat #roynette #happy birthday roy #ttt2023

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