Chiwawa~
Amanda and Penny exchanged a look as music blared from half way down their drive. Penny waited patiently, running her fingers along the brickwork with one hand and holding the treacle tart upright in the other as her mother slowly searched for the right key to open the door.
Chiwawa~
Frown lines becoming more prominent the longer she fumbled in her handbag. “The neighbours are going to be annoyed” Blowing away a stray strand of hair
“Good, Mike is an asshole”
“Penny!”
“He is an asshole”
Chiwawa~
“There’s no need to be so crass” Amanda finally managed to find the right key, only to end up locking the door since it was already open “Oh for the love of Go- goats.”
“Nice save mom”
She turned to send her daughter a scathing look that Penny only winked at before marching into the house with a face of thunder, music becoming twice as loud as the door swung open. She got as far as the living room entrance before the anger left her posture. Curious about the sudden change in demeanor, Penny gently closed the door and went to investigate herself. Unable to stop herself from bursting into laughter at the sight of Macy playing just dance and their father hopping around on his haunches trying to do the same.
Chiwawa~
“Like you can do any better” Macy threw over her shoulder before returning to the activity, neither of them particularly put off by the interruption.
“Hi” Mark panted out the greeting “Honey… how was… work.. today?”
“Started out kind of rough, Joe called in sick and I thought I’d have to man the stations on my own, luckily Penny decided to come in and save the day”
“Good… good job.. Penny”
Chiwawa~
"Ohh… Oh no.. I smell.. my weakness.. Treacle-”
“You bought us treacle tart!”
Macy abandoned the game running into the kitchen to find the treat as their father flopped onto the ground like a beached whale, giving up on the activity at her retreat, only for her to return once she realised nothing was there. By that point it was already too late, Penny had placed it on top of her father's rounded belly as if it were a table. He looked between it and his wife with a miserable expression.
“My diet...”
“No problem I’ll eat it” Mark galliently defend the dish, batting away Macys approaching arm with a reflective speed he seldom used.
“I made this one though dad”
“Its safe?”
“Well if you don’t want any”
“I do” Both Mark and Macy stated at the same time. Sensing her opportunity while the two were distracted, Amanda reached for the remote and began mashing at the volume button.
“Aww mom, we were playing”
“The neighbors don’t want to listen to this”
“Who cares what Mike wants, he’s an asshole”
“Mark!”
“He is an asshole”
“I see where Penny gets it from now”
Rolling her eyes at the scene, Penny watched her family interacting for a while, biting the inside of her cheek as a rush of thoughts entered her mind. They could all stand to be a bit healthier. Her parents both lived busy lives that often left them eating convenience foods or things left over from the bakery, Penny herself didn’t have this excuse, even Macy went to school. She was just lazy, was.
So maybe I can help fix that? I have a fridge full of healthy food and a literal mission telling me to ‘get good’ Time isn’t an issue. Maybe i should do everyone's lunches.
[New mission][Healthy Lunches][Objective: Make sure you and your family eat a healthy lunch.][resets daily][Rewards: 10xp per family member eating a healthy lunch made by you][Failure: Increased health risks]
That settles it then.
Pennys eyes darted between her family members once more before before she left them to argue. Off to prepare for tomorrow's lunch. One Food Preparation skill up and four premade lunches later, Penny closed the fridge and paused. I’ve not had anything to eat today but im not hungry.
She trudged up the stairs and into her room, flopping onto her bed and sighing through her nose as she checked for her makeup box and found it absent, but her only reaction was to roll onto her side. Not worth the effort I’ll get it tomorrow
Although it was only just starting to get dark out, it had been a busy day. It should have been tiring, but the longer she lay there on top of the covers waiting for sleep to claim her the more she came to realise I don’t need to sleep despite this she felt quite unmotivated to move, but it wasn’t long until borem kicked in and forced her to, wearing a disgruntled expression.
“Skills”
[Food preparation lv4][20% increased accuracy while preparing food]
[Stir frying Lv2][10% improved taste]
[Baking Lv3][15% increased taste to food products while baking]
[Dovetailing lv3][15% better time management]
[Heat resistance lv2][Immunity to temperatures 38-42oc]
[Mopping lv1][5% increased movement speed while mopping floors]
[washing up lv2][10% increased speed]
[Serving][10% increased speed while serving customers]
[hygiene lv1][5% increased speed while self cleaning]
[Meditation lv1][restores 5% of mp per minute][requires being skill and focused]
She scrunched up her face at the list, apart from meditation they weren't skills she could conveniently work on from within her room, and not knowing what mp was exactly, it wasn't an encouraging skill to grind. So penny sat upright, resting her chin on her fist in a thinking posture as she combed her brain for ideas. The old guitar she hadn’t touched since she was 7? too loud to start now. Exercise? She hummed “fuck that” tapping her fingeres against her cheak her eyes slowly romed across the room for something to do.
Her playstation? A startling lack of interest in her current favourite activity struck her, but as her eyes trained on the object she couldn’t bring herself to turn it on. Shaking her head she looked for something else, the bookshelf, her childhood toys and posters. Old schoolwork and assorted junk she never could throw away. Much like her father. She went through the apps on her phone. Duo lingo? Programing? Nothing seemed to light a spark of interest.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Penny spent the next hours watching cat videos and checking social media in a mindless binge until a tentative light knock hit her door. Macy entered the room, gently shutting the door and flipping on the light switch, before diving on Pennys bed in a fashion that rendered all her previous stealth pointless.
“Surprised you’re still awake”
Indeed this is where Penny would have usually been rudely awoken and begun her token protests before eventually giving into Macys demands. Tonight she decided to skip this step.
“What is it, math or biology?”
“Both, How’d you know?”
“You always do this on Sunday”
“Oh”
“Yh, ‘Oh’, right let’s get started you should really be sleeping by now. Bisecting an Angle… ok give me a minute its been awhile”
[New skill][Math Lv1][5% Quicker calculations]
“Ok I get it, its just explaining…”
[New skill][Tutor Lv1][5% better Demonstration][Requires: At least basic knowledge of skill.]
“Ok. Watch what I do. You grab your compass and make an acr across the two lines, make the compass a bit bigger and make a cross then get your ruler and draw a line from the cross to the center of the angle. You try the next one”
Macy reached for the equipment, attempting to copy the instruction. Everytime her hand hesitated, Penny repeated the instruction, until eventually the question was completed.
“Nice, I think that’s how you do it. Do the next one”
And so she did.
“Try not to change the distance with the compass while drawing the cross, the distance needs to be the same”
[skill up][Tutor Lv2][10% better Demonstration]
One section at a time.
“Doing good”
Until the sheet was completed. Much sooner than it usually took for them to get through. “That seemed easier than at school”
“Its easy, you just need to give yourself some more credit, a little work can go along way”
“Coming from the laziest person I know”
Macy unzipped her bag, pulling out her biology homework and putting the math away. Handing it to Penny she fidgeted in place as her sister gave it a once over with a stillness and silence she wasn’t used to seeing in her.
[New skill][Biology Lv1][5% increased knowledge of mammals]
Penny grabbed her head as a sharp pain appeared there, wincing before it disappeared, leaving behind knowledge she hadn’t possessed before.
“Don’t try getting out of this by faking a headache”
“I wouldn’t-” Penny snorted “ok I would have-” she hesitated “never mind let's just do this. Leaf structure. The leaf makes food-”
“Photosynthesis”
“Alright good.” Penny sighed, handing over the worksheet and giving Macy a pen, as she got into dictator position. Pointing at the diagram, Macy copied down the answers as Penny stated them. “So its made up of a large surface area. Basically means its wide to get as much sunlight as possible. Its thin to make sure carbon dioxide doesn’t have to travel far to get to cells, it has a midrib. See that big vein here? That keeps it upright, veins are the smaller ones, they transport water and glucose around the plant. chlorophyll makes it green, this is what absorbs sunlight. The stem that attaches the leaf to the plant is called petiole and stomata are tiny pores covering the leaf to let in carbon dioxide and let out oxygen.”
“Thank you” Macy began placing her school work away in a hurry before Penny stopped her by grabbing her arm.
“Don’t thank me yet, how much of that do you understand?”
“I.. um”
“The leaf has a large surface area, why?”
“To catch sunlight”
"The big vein in the middle is called a?”
“Um…”
“Midrib”
“...”
“Say it”
“Midrib”
“And its purpose is to?”
“Hold the leaf upright”
“The little veins are called?”
“I err…”
“Veins”
“That was a trick question”
“The veins…”
“Transport glucose?”
“And?”
“Oxygen”
“No”
“Carbon dioxide?”
“Good-”
“Petiole is the stem attaching it to the plants, and the stomola are tiny breathing holes, stop grilling me, yeesh”
[skill up][Tutoring lv3][15% better demonstration]
“Don’t ask me to help you with something and then get sassy when I help you. Go pack your bags and go to bed. And I can hear you mumbling under your breath there” Penny waited until she could no longer hear footsteps down the hall before she sighed, tension slipping from her shoulders. “Pain in the ass siblings”
There was no denying the crippling boredom that resurfaced at her departure though. No less weary than before despite the late hour, she once again scanned her room for something to do.
[New skill][Art: Sketching lv1][5% increased accuracy]
5am rolled around, signaling the alarm on her phone to go off, along with the blasted cuckoo clock. Well at least one of these I can turn off she spent a few minutes eyeing her progress with a smile. She didn’t actually have any plain paper, just a few old notebooks that required digging to find, but the lines running through her amature sketching didn’t retract from the progress, at least in her mind.
At level 5, Penny still couldn’t draw a perfect circle, but the lines were more fluid, appearing more confidently on the page. Being able to see the progress in her work so clearly, made her hands twitch around her pen, itching to place it back on the page, despite her general lack of passion for art. “Addictive”
In the end, she had to open up her missions page in order to convince herself to up and move. Not having slept ment she got first dibs on the bathroom, but that wouldn’t be the case if she procrastinated much longer. A skill up in hygiene later, Penny was in the kitchen and making breakfast.
[skill up][Cooking: Food Preparation Lv5][25% increased accuracy]
+1 Dex
“That’s new”
Blurry eyed Mark walked into the kitchen, already wearing the high vis jacket and heavy boots that was his work uniform, only to sober up as soon as he saw his daughter rhythmically stirring porridge at the stove. He rubbed his eyes a second, pinching his skin while her back was turned. Before flicking on the coffee machine and finally sitting at the round table.
“I know your mother told me you had got into cooking recently but I didn’t quite believe it”
“Yeah I never thought I’d pick it up either, but, well, you know, here we are”
“So long as there’s no more accidental flour bombs”
“That was one time. One”
Mark only snorted at the protest, but was unable to deny this successful attempt at breakfast as she set a bowl in front of him, a long with a jar of honey and some assorted fruits. Grabbing her own bowl, she sat opposite her father and tucked into breakfast. Eyes widening at its slightly sweet taste. It was decent, not as good as her mothers, yet, but she didn’t have to force it down and her father seemed pleasantly surprised as well, nodding at her in approval as he wolfed it down.
[Porridge with blueberries and banana slices][Quality: Normal][Made by: Penny Connells]
“Its not often I eat breakfast you know, this is a real treat”
“Me neither, i was thinking of maybe making this a thing, I dunno”
“Don’t think you have to, but I certainly wouldn't complain”
Harried thumping came down the stairs. Both of the tables occupants turned to face Amanda as she zoomed around the house frantically.
“Fudge, fudge, fudge”
“I hung your keys on the coat rack” Mark sipped his coffee, while watching his wife with skeptically raised eyebrow “Honestly honey why you gotta do this to yourself every morning” She didn’t reply, instead bolting into the living room, causing Mark to sigh as he looked towards the ceiling. “Your name tag is on the mantelpiece” placing his head in his hands as she ran into yet another room. “What else are you missing?”
“My purse”
“Check you’re jacket, the puffy one with red spots”
“Got it… Oh fudge I forgot Macys lunch”
“Amanda… honey”
“Don’t worry about it” Penny stood up making her way over to the fridge. “I made us all pack lunches last night”
Finally the tension left Amandas shoulders, walking over to her daughter ruffling her hair despite Penny being taller than her. Both parents looked towards the four sack lunches she placed on the countertop and the porridge gently cooling on the stove, and really took a moment to look at their daughter, who in turn started fidgeting under their dissecting gaze.
“What?”
“You’ve really turned into a responsible adult, I’m proud of you”
“you’re not allowed to grow up” Mark swept the pair into a hug “I love you both”
Squished between her parents, and growing increasingly uncomfortable when it became apparent that neither of them were going to let go anytime soon, Penny couldn’t believe that her rescue came in the form of the cuckoo clock.
“Guess I should wake Macy”
“I’ll do it” Penny escaped, bolting up the stairs, and for the first time in her life shooting the clock a grateful look. Stealthily she made her way into Macys room, dodging the obstacle course of dirty clothes, and game cases along with “My make up box” leaning in close enough that she could hear her breathing. She tucked macys hair behind her ear, before sucking in a deep breath and screaming as loud as she could. Running back into the kitchen while Macy threw her things down the stairs at her.
Amanda gave her ‘the look’ Arms crossed and foot tapping as she came to an abrupt halt in front of her. “Maybe not that responsible” She grouched, causing Mark to snort into his coffee “Don’t encourage it” He raised his hand palm up into the air as she shot him the side eye.
“I think that’s my que to get going” Kissing both on the cheek before shouting up the stairs “Bye Macy” And retreating out the door.
Macy plodded down the stairs, glaring at Penny even as she handed over a bowl of porridge and began washing up, feeling the eyes upon her back the entire time. She smirked into the water and just to be annoying, just because she could Penny asked “So what does the midrib do?”
“Fudge you”
After dropping Macy off at the before school club, they arrived at the Queen of Tarts a solid hour before it opened. Together they cleaned down display stands, mopped the floor and faced up the non perishables. Amanda was pleasantly surprised at how little instruction her daughter needed on these tasks, and the lack of complaint she went about doing them with. Banter flowed easily between the two and before they knew it the boring part was out of the way.
Washing their hands, and placing on their gloves, hair nets and aprons they put on their game faces.
“You want to start making three treacle tarts? I want to see how much you remember”
Penny did just that, barely having to revise the steps as she performed them, as if the information had always been there at the back of her mind, waiting to be used. Her hands moved almost on their own, her mind and eyes wandering over to her mother who was performing a much more complex task, folding and refolding the same batter over and over. Cutting it into triangles and folding into the familiar shape of a croissant. Despite it being more complex, Amanda was done with her task first, coming over to inspect Pennys own work just as she finished putting on the last of the lattice work.
[skill up][Cooking:baking lv4][20% increased taste to food products while baking]
“I think you’ve been holding out on me Penny. These are better than what most people can make after first learning.”
“Thanks. You think I can win the competition?”
“With a little bit of work, and some more variety. They won’t know what hit em”