Emilija was getting good at resisting the urge to photograph Natalie every moment of her life. But still, Natalie was Natalie, and somehow she made the scene before them look like a work of art.
Young woman hunches over modern kitchen counter frowning at napkin.
“It’s only been 15 minutes,” Hadiza replied at normal volume. “Not so long, for a Natalie Chef Meltdown.”
“Hadiza bear hug incoming!” the girl grinned, stomping dramatically forward with wide open arms. “Resistance is futile!”
Hadiza wrapped her arms fully around an unresisting Natalie from behind, pinning the girl’s arms in, and rocked her back and forth forcefully enough to break her gaze from the scribbled-on napkin.
Natalie harrumphed and leaned into the hug. “It’s fine, I’m fine,” she said. “I’m sure it will be great!”
She perked up and smiled at her roommates in a way that would have convinced anyone but them.
Wevvi (Midwest Style)
3 cups mango-orange juice
*Substitute with any similar 100% fruit juice. We use Santa Cruz Organic Orange Mango, a blend that has apple and banana too.
1 cup vanilla oat milk creamer
*Non-dairy is important, but almond or soy creamer should be fine too. We used California Farms Vanilla Oat Creamer.
3 Cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice
1 dash of ground nutmeg
Optional for Non-Anesidorans: Plum wine
*The Artonans will definitely want the Plum wine version! But don’t do it on Anesidora.
Mix mango-orange juice, creamer, cinnamon sticks, and pumpkin spice in a small saucepan or microwave-safe teapot. Heat to near boiling, stirring occasionally, and top with ground nutmeg. Serve immediately.
Optional: substitute up to half of juice with plum wine.
“That looks really good, actually. And anything’s gotta be better than the powdered fake stuff, right?” asked Hadiza, tilting her head and resting her chin on the corner of Natalie’s shoulder.
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“If only I could get my hands on a real Wevvi fruit!” Natalie sighed, and would have tossed up her arms too if they weren’t still pinned in a hug. Hadiza let her go and Natalie continued her rant with the aid of complete arm gestures.
“At least this has actual fruit in it. The triplanets don’t have fruit like Earth does! For some reason everyone still uses the Artonan substitute, but by using Earth ingredients we can make something much better and also much more authentic to true Wevvi! So this is great! Right? Right!”
“What’s Midwest?” Hadiza hopped up to sit on the sparkling clean counter and rested an arm on an industrial-sized mixer.
“The American Midwest is a region of the United States,” Natalie lectured. “Alden is from Chicago. So using normal Earth ingredients available in his home region should help it taste extra welcoming. At least in theory, according to my skill. And my mentor who helped identify the ingredients available in the midwest that we could source for it.”
She pointed a perfectly manicured nail at the scribbling on the napkin, which was in two different handwritings.
Natalie ignored the comment.
“So it will taste like it comes from home even before I use my skill, and Alden will love it and it will be great for the party and everyone is happy and everything is fine!”
Natalie grit her teeth into a smile as she finished her not-a-rant, and then her expression shifted to a more natural one of curiosity as she noticed Emilija’s spread-out fingers.
“Purple? I thought you were going to see if there were any limits on chipping and fixing the same polish.”
Emilija blushed, and Natalie sensed there was more to the color choice than the Lithuanian girl was letting on, but she let it go.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Natalie smiled her best smile that she knew her own roommates would see through, and continued brightly. “I’m sure my mentor’s sourcing skill, combined with my skill, absolutely did give us the best recipe for Alden’s enjoyment of a Wevvi substitute, even though it’s a basic mixed drink using bottled ingredients instead of everything being made from scratch.”
Natalie’s uncannily beautiful smile had turned menacing, like a poisonous butterfly.
“And you, our one and only Chef of the Moment, wanted to make something so mind-bogglingly fancy and special for Alden that only one of your skill could even hope to attempt it, purely so that you can level and grow as is your destiny.” Hadiza guessed.
“Yes! Thank you!” Natalie waved her arms exhasperatedly. “This recipe… anyone could make this!”
“You are aware, oh intrepid S rank who is only a couple levels away from spending half her life summoned onto alien planets, that your skill will still make it taste like it was squeezed out of a god’s teat. It will taste like an entire choir of angels sang so beautifully that the sound could no longer be held by physics alone, and so their voices condensed into a creamy spiced fruit beverage.”
Natalie stared, and then nodded appreciatively.
“You’re getting better at those. It’s like you’ve managed to use your skill on your own speech.” She paused and considered. “Wait, is that possible? Can you enhance words?”
“Affirmatively Yescorrect,” Hadiza deadpanned.
“No, don’t give up! You’ve been learning so fast!”
“Thankfirmative Accept!” Emilija replied seriously in careful english.
Her smile broke a couple seconds later, and the three girls’ banter turned to poking and giggling as they left the kitchen to get ready to go party shopping.
Aside from the authentically midwestern wevvi ingredients, Natalie had her heart set on finding a proper porcelain sake bottle and cup set, the kind made for holding a hot drink meant to be served in small portions. She seemed certain that the bloated size of most Wevvi cups was to compensate for the mediocrity of the powdered stuff, and that a sake set would be more accurate to the authentic Artonan stuff. Finding this, along with other placeware, was delegated to Emilija.
Meanwhile, Hadiza was tasked with sourcing a very important root vegetable.
They were going to make sure Alden had the best party ever.