found wild raspberries in a meadow, and is out picking them.
spots Bela while he was out for a walk and walks over to her. "Hello, Natalia."
stands up and looks over the bush she's picking berries from. "Hello Toris, how are you?"
Toris
wonders
what she's doing. "I've been well. How are you? And may I ask what you are doing?" He was slightly confused.
"Me? I'm picking raspberries, see?" Holds up the small plastic pail half-full of raspberries.
's eyes widen. It should have been obvious as to what she was doing. Oops. "Oh, would you look at that! Th-they're wild." He bends down to_
get a closer look at the bush. "How'd you stumble across these? By accident?"
"Yes, sort of. When berries are ripe, birds eat them, and the berry juice tints their droppings. I started seeing pink colored bird_
droppings, so started looking for berries." looks at him, "That's probably more than you wanted to know about bird droppings."
blinks in shock. "You're right, it is more than I wanted to know." He chuckles, feeling he can be more himself around her. "But that's_
quite smart of you! Seeing the droppings and looking for the bushes."
blinks at him. "Smart? Doesn't everyone do that?" looks at her pail of berries.
shakes his head. "No, not everyone. Could you imagine Alfred searching for berries?" He places one hand over his mouth, giggling at the_
thought. Alfred was just too... ditzy to think to search for berries from bird droppings. "And I as well never thought of something like_
that."
"Oh, but if hamburgers grew on trees, I'm sure Alfred would know how to find those. As for you, you were busy doing other stuff."
nods with an amused smile on his face. "Very true. He'd follow anything to get a hamburger. I on the other hand never thought of that even_
previously, when I wasn't doing other things. You are smart, Natalia, just accept it." He gives her a little smile to emphasize his_
statement.
"Thank you Toris." no one had ever told her she was smart, feels very happy about that. "I'm going to fill this pail up, there's lots of_
berries here. If I don't pick them the birds will eat them."
murmurs softly, "How dare those birds." He stands back up, "You're welcome, would you like some help?"
Belarus
gives
him a small smile. "Sure, that would be very nice of you, Dziakuj." walks back into the thicket, and reaches for more red berries. "Mind_
the thorns, they scratch."
Toris
is
unsure what he was just called, and hopes it was something nice, as least. "Okay, thanks for the warning." He kneels down again, getting_
some of the lower berries.
puts the pail on the ground between them and picks berries toward the top of the bushes.
drops some berries softly into the pail and asks while picking more of them, "What was it that you called me? Dzi-something."
looks at him, "I didn't call you anything, I said thank you. Have you forgotten?" drops some berries in the pail.
finally he remembers. His cheeks tint pink." Oh, my goodness, I'm sorry! I'm not sure why I seemed to have forgotten. I really must be out_
of it. I'm quite sorry!!"
"that's okay. What did you think I called you?" drops berries into the pail.
shakes his head. "I wasn't sure. That's why I asked." He had forgotten to pluck more berries though his embarrassment, so he lets his hands_
wander picking more berries and dropping them into the pail, seeing the pail slowly fill.
looks at him for a moment, then moves further into the thicket to get more berries. a few thorns give her scratches. "Ow."
stands up quickly and holds out his hand wanting to see Natalia's. He had some bandages in his pocket if need be. Yes, he carries bandages_
around with him.
looks at his hand, looks at him. "Yes, do you need something?"
blushes, "May I see your hand? Are you bleeding?"
looks at the scratch "Oh, a little. " holds her hand out to him.
hold her hand and inspects it. Yes, they were just enough to bleed. He lets go of her hand for a moment to pull out a few bandages and_
quickly wipes off the blood and bandages her cuts. "There. How's that?"
looks at his bandaging work. "That's very nice of you, Dziakuj Toris." gives him a small smile, wiggles her fingers and returns to picking_
berries.
smiles back, and bends continuing at the bush again. "Nėra už ką, Natalia."
looks at him. "Been a long time since I've heard that from you. I like it." picks more berries. "This is almost full."
blushes softly. "I believe you'll be hearing it more often, now, now as we're friends." He looks at the bucket. "Oh, would you look at_
that."
"That went very fast with you helping. Now what to do with them?" picks up the pail and walks out of the thicket.
stands up and quickly follow her. "Make raspberry jelly or desserts and stuff?
"A dessert sounds good. What dessert do you like?"
Toris
thinks
about it, "There's always a raspberry torte. With chocolate, and raspberries and cake.
"*
"That sounds delicious, do you have a recipe?" walks toward the street to walk home.
nods, "Yes, but it's at my house. If you want you could come over and we could make it there, or I could get the recipe and bring it to you_
at your house."
"We can make it at either place. Do you want to mess up my kitchen, or yours?"
chuckles. "I can clean, so either one doesn't bother me. Do you bake often enough to have a whole bunch of ingredients in your house?"
nods, "Tak, I do. We can do it there."
nods, "Okay. That works. we'll have to stop off at my house, then,to get the recipe book. I hope that's alright?"
"That's not a problem, I like to walk." walks beside him, carrying the pail of raspberries.
nods, "Okay, would you like me to carry that?" He was a gentleman, he couldn't help himself.
"it's not that heavy, but if you want to, that's fine." offers him the pail, not used to all the kind treatment.
takes it from her, "Thank you." He always liked to do what he could to be "gentlemanly".
"You're welcome," she answered, walking beside him. "Do you like sweet desserts?"
nods,comfortably walking beside her. "Yes, sometimes. What about you? Do you like sweet desserts?"
"Not all the time, but when they are treats, or for special occasions, yes I do."
smiles, slightly. "I am the same way. I understand completely." He stops when they come across his house, opeing the door and gesturing her_
to go in ahead of her.
Ivan
is
sitting in Liet's living room because he happened to be bored and bothering Liet seemed like fun. ^__^
walks into the house, looking around again. "Your house is so nice Litva, very welcoming."
smiles, "Thank you, follow me," he closes the door behind him, walking by the living room to to the kitchen, but freezes. He looks into his_
living room. Uh oh. "R-Russia..! W-what are you d-doing here?!"
stops when Toris does, then looks into the living room. She wasn't happy too see him here at all.
lifts his hand to wave at Liet, but freezes when he sees his sister. "Um... pryvet, little Liet! I... was just wanting to visit... da," he_
stutters.
looks between the two, worried about what was going to happen. "I-I see. Uh. well.. Um.." He drifts off lost for words.
Ivan
has
no words either. Mostly because his brain is not functioning due to fear.
looks at Toris. "Shall we get that recipe and be on our way?"
looks between the two some more and nods.. "I-I guess. I'll, er.. I'll be right back!" He rushes into the kitchen and quickly returns with_
recipe book he knew it was in.
waits in the hallway for Toris to return, doesn't say anything to Ivan. "May I look over the recipe quickly, and make sure I have_
everything we need?"
nods, flipping the pages to to right one. He was nervous and afraid. He offers the book to Natalia.
takes the book "Dziakuj," she looks over the list quickly. "I have all of this at my house, so we can go whenever you're ready." hands the_
recipe book back to him.
looks back at Russia wondering what he was going to do, either continue to wander his house, or what. "Yes, we may leave whenever. Uh..._
Russia? What are you going to do?" He looks over at the bigger nation.
kind of wants to see what they are going to make but there's Belarus involved... "Nyet, it seems Liet is busy... I'll just leave now, da."
Belarus
is
relieved he's leaving. Also happy they decided to make the dessert at her house, knows Russia would never go there, even if she is a good_
cook.
exits swiftly, glad to have gotten out of the situation without having to confront his sister. ;~;
can easily tell Russia and even bring a piece of what they're making to him later. He's relieved about what went on without any conflict.
"Shall we go to my house now?" looks up at him.
nods, he opens the door and gestures for her to go out before him.
walks outside, happy to see her brother is nowhere in sight. "It's good our houses are so close together, isn't it?"
nods, and smiles, "yes, that is a good thing. It does make things much easier." It was a nice day out, he was quite pleased for that.
"I remember when I was really little, you made porridge for both of us. I always liked the way you made it." looks at him.
blushes at the praise. "Would you like me to make some when we get to your house?"
laughs, "That's very sweet, but we're already going to make a cake with the raspberries, maybe some other time?"
smiles, still half embarrassed. "Alright. Another time then!"
"Another time." Walks up to her front door and unlocks it. "Welcome." Opens the front door for him.
steps in, "Thank you." He takes off his shoes, and waits to follow Natalia, even though he's been here before.
enters behind him and closes the door. slips off her shoes and walks to the kitchen, "This way." goes to the cupboard and takes out a_
collander. "I'll start washing the berries."
follows her and looks around "Still as beautiful as always," he murmurs. He watches her for a moment, "What would you like me to do?"
puts the colander in the sink, "How about you wash the berries, and I'll get the other things we need out?" holds her hand out for the_
cookbook the recipe's in.
flips the book to the right pageagain and gives it to her and then easily steps around her to wash both the berries and his hands.
"Thanks," reads over to the recipe, then opens up cupboard doors, removing the ingredients and placing them on the counter, then getting_
out bowls and utensils.
makes quick work with washing the raspberries, softly humming to himself as he goes.
gets out everything they need. "Are they ready?" walks over and looks in the sink. "they look fine."
nods, "yes, they should be clean now." He shakes the collender free of most of the water, and places it on some paper towels on the counter_
top beside the rest of the ingredients.
reads over the recipe again. "I'll start mixing the dry ingredients together, and you can get the pans ready."
goes to pick up the pans and spray them with the spray cooking oil, easier than using butter, margarine or lard. "Done here," he tells her _
turning back to her, watching her delicately mix the ingredients.
"Good," looks at him. "Could you beat those eggs together, then add the other wet ingredients together?"
nods, "mmhm," he murmurs while gathering the wet ingredients and mixing them all together, all by the book.
"That looks good." takes the wet mixture and folds it into the dry mixture, combining them and mixing until it's smooth." Now we need the_
pans."
picks up the pans and places them closer to Natalia as he takes the used dry and wet ingredients away, back to their proper places.
reaches over and turns on the oven to pre heat, then grabs a spatula and puts cake batter in the pans, trying to get equal amounts in_
each one. "There, that looks good." takes dirty dishes over to the sink.
quickly follows her to the sink and starts the water, allowing them to soak for a minute before washing them for her.
puts the pans in the sink. "Oh ... you're washing the dishes. Then I will get to work on the raspberries."
finishes up the dishes and decides to let them airdry, and comes over help Bela, "How's things going?" he asks with a smile. He loved_
working in the kitchen.
"the cake is baking, I was going to make the raspberry glaze now." measures out a couple of cups of the berries, takes out a sauce pan.
blinks, watching her, he couldn't get over the fact that this woman who terrified Russia, the biggest nation in the world, was so delicate_
with the berries.
measures sugar, corn starch, a few drops of lemon juice and the berries into a sauce pan. "Have a seat and relax Toris."
jumps slightly at being talked to. "O-okay.." He sits down at the table, looking around at the room again.
frowns at the jumping, concentrates on making the raspberry glaze. "The cake will have to cool, and then we can ice it. We can wait a _
little bit before making the icing."
lets out the little breath he was holding, pleased they were almost done and nothing had gone wrong. "Would you like me to put on some tea_
for while we wait, then?"
"That's sounds good, please. The tea is in that cupboard right there." points to it, stirs the fruit over the stove, waiting for it to_
bubble and thicken.
gets up, glad to not be idle and goes to the cupboard and pulls down two earl grey teabags. To himself he notices she was running low of it_
finishes with the raspberries, shuts off the stove and sets the pan aside to let it cool. "The cake still has a few minutes," has a seat at_
the table and watches Toris.
makes a mental note to buy her some tomorrow for her birthday. He gets the teapot and fills it, and waits for the water to boil.
(Sorry, I totally blanked on the word "teapot" so I spent like, 20 minutes trying to remember it x.x; ))
(( No problem ^^))
glances at the timer, notes the cake is almost done baking.
Toris
is
quite excited to see how their combined work created the cake. He hears the teapot go off and gets out two cups, placing the teabags into_
the cups and fills them with water. He brings them both back to the table and goes to the fridge and cupboard to grab the milk and sugar_
respectfully.
looks up when the timer goes off, gets up, grabs the pot holders and opens the oven door. takes a toothpick to test the cakes, then takes_
them out of the oven to cool. "They're done." shuts off the oven, then comes back to the table to drink her tea. "they look good too."
follows her to see the cake, "Ohh, yes, they look quite nice!" He follows her back to the table and adds the milk and sugar to his tea.
takes the tea bag out of her tea and takes a sip. "Mmm, that's good." looks at Toris. "We make a good team in the kitchen."
smiles at her, pleased. "I must agree that we do." He takes out his own tea bag and takes a sip. It was perfect.
"The cake will need some time to cool, " sips more of her tea. "What would you like to do?"
blinks. "I'm not so sure. I'm not used to having excess time on my hands." His hands fidget in his lap.
"Me either." looks around the kitchen. "I'm used to be being so busy all the time." sips her tea. "we could work on this together."
nods, "I'd like that. It's strangen not having so much commotion in my house.I'm not sure I prefer it."
"Do you live alone now? I admit, after living in Russia's house for so long, living alone is much quieter. I don't mind though."
nods again, "Yes. I live alone. I'm not used to it, so I'm not sure I mind it.." He frowns and stares at his hands.
"Do you visit any of the others? I recall you got along very well with almost everyone." gets up to check the cake, then takes out a_
cooling rack to put them on so they cool faster.
shakes his head. "Not really, no. I haven't seen Feliks in quite some time, and the only ones I see are you and your brother."
"Really? Haven't seen Feliks? Does he call you at least?" finds that a little hard believe, there was a time the two of them_
were inseparable.
frowns, a bit of sadness showing on his face. "Not in a while. He's been dealing with his own things lately.."
"Seems like everyone has." puts the pans in the sink, sits down at the table to finish her tea. "I know I've been busy too."
sadly agrees with her, "It's seems like i's just natural, don't you think? It just happens."
"I think some things just happen, and some things happen for a reason." finishes her tea and looks at him "It's sad when people you care_
about aren't with you, but we shouldn't give up on the people who are with us either."
had forgotten about his tea and takes a sip, "I like that philosophy. I should take that up." He smiles slightly.
looks down at the table. "I'm really happy we decided to be friends, Toris."
looks up at her wide eyed. "I am too. It's nice. I'm happy." He smiles at her, showing that he was quite happy to be her friend.
looks at him, then reaches out and pats her hand with his. "Good. This makes me happy too." looks at his hand for a moment, then puts her_
hand back in her lap.
*his hand with hers
notices her looking at their hands, a bit confused, but shakes it off. "I'm glad to hear you're happy. That makes me happy."
"I'm happy I have a friend."
smiles at that, "I'm happy I have a friend, too."
stands up and checks on the cakes, "These should be cool enough, so they can be put together and glazed."
stands as well, following her, "Would you like some help?"
"Sure, would you like to spread the fruit in the pan between the layers, and then put the rest on the top layer?"
"I will get the layers ready and put them in place."
nods happily. "I can do that!" he does what she says, speading the fruit between the layers.
sets the layers so they are even for him, and watches him spread the fruit spread over the cake. "That looks delicious~" takes the fresh _
raspberries she set aside and waits for him to finish.
finishes up proud of himself and steps back, to let Natalia arrange the berries how she'd like on top.
does that, randomly dots the top of the cake with fresh berries. Leaves a few in the bottom of the bowl, and takes one out. "Open up." _
holds a berry in her fingers.
's cheeks blush brightly, slowly he opens his mouth.
pops the berry in his mouth, then picks one up to put in her mouth. "Good, aren't they?"
chews and swallows. His blush not fading. "Yes, they are very good."
eats the berry in her hand. "They're one of my favorites. Want another?" reaches into the bowl.
nods, "Yes, i would." his hand lifts to reach for another one.
"I have one here, unless you don't want to eat this one." holds out the berry.
blinks,"Oh okay, thank you."
pops the berry into his mouth, for some strange reason he enjoyed feeding Toris. Reaches into the bowl and takes one of two berries left.
chews the berry and closes his eyes, savouring the taste.
takes the second to last berry left, pops it in her mouth. "One berry left. Do you want it?"
Toris
has
a feeling he wouldn't be able to feed himself so he nods, opening his mouth again.
puts the last berry in his mouth. "Now we have a cake to eat too. Do you want to wait a bit before we have some of that?"
totally forgot about the cake! He kinds of would like to have a slice right now, as the cake is just fresh.
"Perhaps we could make more tea and have our cake now?"
would like that, "Yes, please."
"Fine, that sounds good." puts the kettle on and takes out plates and forks.
looks around wondering if there's anything for him to do.
"Would you like to cut the cake?" places a knife next to the cake.
's eyes widen. Is was surprising how well she seemed to know him. "Thank you." He picks up the knife and starts cutting a couple of pieces_
of the cake. Not too big, but not too small. "There."
"I can't wait to try this cake, it looks really delicious." puts tea bags in two cups and pours hot water on them, bring them to the table.
grabs the plates and manoeuvres the cut slices of cake onto the waiting plates. "It smells delicious. It will probably taste 10 times as_
good."
"I'm a pretty good cook, and it seems you are too, I think we did a good job with it." sits and dunks her tea bag in her tea cup before_
removing it.
brings the two plates and the two forks to the table and places one of each in front of Natalia. "I don't want to sound arrogant, but I_
have to agree with you." He sits down places his things in front of him and removes the teabag from his own tea.
sips her tea, then takes a forkful of cake, eats it. "Mmm~ we did a good job Toris!" puts the fork down, then reaches over and pats him_
on the back.
smiles embarrassed from the praise. "Really?" He takes a forkful of his own, wanting to try it before trying his tea. "Mmm, oh wow, this is_
amazing!" he says wide eyed after swallowing.
Belarus
has
her eyes closed, another bite of cake in her mouth. "Mmm, now I need to copy this recipe down. I want to make this again."
smiles, pleased. "I could lend you the book for a while, if you'd like, so you can make whatever you'd like from it." He takes another bite_
and swallows it down with a sip of his tea.
"Chocolate and raspberries are perfect together." sips her tea, then takes another bite.
takes another bite, "I can't help but agree to that, too."
"What else do you like to have with chocolate?"
Toris
has
to think about that, "Strawberries. Milk, most fruits, honestly. some nuts." He looks at her, "I quite like chocolate, if you haven't_
noticed." He blushes softly.
"Chocolate is heavenly stuff, I can't imagine someone not liking it. Strawberries and almonds are good with Chocolate."
hums agreeingly. "I love thosw two mixed with chocolate." He takes another sip of his tea and then a bite of the cake.
eats another bite of cake, so happy they made this now with the raspberries. "They compliment each other very well. It's interesting how_
some things just seem to do that."
nods. "It really is, isn't it? Two things so different that works so well with each other.."