Pancakes

[hellshaped]

Who: Hellboy and YOU
What: Hellboy (on a loss) desires pancakes. He probably could use some help.
When: Lunchtime, prime pancake time
Where: Kitchen
Rating: the babyest rating possible, he is a baby
Note: Prose or actionspam, I'll follow your lead!

Hellboy had been enjoying his time back in the castle. The snow was fun, and he managed to avoid all the weird people so far, since mostly he'd been hanging out with Molotov or exploring the grounds.

But he was getting hungry.

So, if anyone were to step inside the kitchen, they might notice that every inch of it seems to be dusted in a fine powder of flour. There are also broken eggs scattered about, some chocolate chips on the floor, and an open container of milk just sitting on the counter.

The culprit is probably this little red person with horns and a tail, who has found a footstool and is standing over the stove with a skillet in his massive right hand. By the almost cartoonish way he is scratching his head, it should be pretty obvious he's trying to figure out how to turn on the burners.

Children and stoves are probably not a very good idea. And when the child in question is this messy, it's probably the worst idea ever.

Comments

[huntersdaughter]

Having gone through all the drawers in the kitchen at the Lux, Jo is convinced the ghosts have stolen her can opener. There is a moment where she considers using a knife to just punch a circle of slices into the top of the can, but then she thinks about the knife and the tip of the blade... she can't do it. Of course, thankfully there's a kitchen just down the hall from where she is.

Leaving the Lux in capable hands of her extremely small size staff, she moves to retrieve a can-opener. Getting into the kitchen, however, proves a more difficult task.

She nearly slips from the lack of traction that all the flour creates on the floor, but she catches her footing easily. The further she goes into the kitchen the more she wonders just what she's going to find. What she finds is a small bright red boy and that makes her startle for a second.

She's used to seeing Hellboy, sure, but not this size. Not wielding a skillet. Not with horns that aren't filed down.

"You alright there?" She asks with more than a faint idea that the answer is going to presumably be 'No.' because little children like Hellboy don't lie to people, do they?

We shall see.

[hellshaped]

Hellboy, for his part, is completely oblivious that this huge mess he made could potentially pose some danger to anyone else stumbling in here. He is very young, and his adoptive father isn't really great at the whole "parenting" thing. Boundaries are things he's still learning.

He does turn around to look over his shoulder though, when he hears someone speaking. There is no recognition in the solid yellow eyes, though if Jo had any doubts that this was Hellboy, they should pretty much evaporate once she gets a look at his face. Because it's the same flat, hard to read expression he wears as an adult.

"Fine," he answers cheerfully enough, then goes back to looking at the stove, scratching thoughtfully at his chin. "You don't know how to work this, do you?"

[huntersdaughter]

Jo can't help but smile a bit at him. It's always odd to see her friends younger, that doesn't change with Hellboy. She glances at the situation and it's easy to figure out what he's up to.

"Pancakes, huh? I think I can help you out with that."

She moves easily, picking up a towel to wipe the counters down. Then she'll take the skillet from his hand and set it on the stove. "We'll turn on the burner here, but keep it low and just let the pan heat up, alright?"

[hellshaped]

Hellboy just watches her curiously, opening his mouth to protest when she takes the skillet from him. He was using that! But he closes his mouth with a quiet huff instead of saying anything, because at least she's helping him instead of shooing him away and telling him he's too little.

"Keep it low -- wouldn't it cook faster if we turned it up all the way?"

Because he wants pancakes right his second, obviously. He also has no idea how to actually turn the burner on, and just squints at the dials, rubbing at his chin.

[huntersdaughter]

Jo smiles at him, shaking her head a bit, "If we turned it up fast then the bottom would cook fast, sure, but the middle part wouldn't cook enough. You'd end up with a burned pancake."

She does a bit of quick clean-up and a bit of batter prep, gets that stove turned on and the pan warmed up. Then she's ready to pour the first one.

"Here, you can see how long it takes to cook this one and then you can do the next one, okay?" She asks him carefully as she pours the first one into the pan.

"See how I didn't make it too big? That's so that it's easy for me to turn over."

action spam because i am feeling lazy

[bezazzled]

[Mabel has every intention of making her trip to the kitchen as brief as possible. With her favorite TV show on pause in her room, she's eager to get back and find out the sudden yet totally obvious plot twist that she's watched at least a hundred times. It seriously never gets old.

When she rounds the corner, however, the view in front of her stops her in her tracks.]

Whoa. It's even snowing inside now!

begrudgingly allows >:[

[hellshaped]

[Meanwhile, Hellboy is still puzzling at this stove. So many buttons! So many ... buttons ...

He looks over his shoulder when somebody comes in, and gives her a very level look. In a tone that implies she is silly as heck:]

It's flour.

[bezazzled]

[Aha! The culprit speaks. He's certainly not the type of culprit she figured would be behind the explosion of flour. In fact, he looks kind of similar to someone she knows. What a coincidence!

At his reply, she slouches her shoulders a bit, but keeps a smile on her face.]

Yeah, I get it. It was a joke. [Kids these days.]

I'd ask what you are trying to cook, but I'm not really sure if you're trying to cook or just make a really big mess for fun.

[hellshaped]

[He is a very serious young man ok. Actually he's not, he's a goofball, but he's at that age (mentally...) where he likes to test people by acting smarter than them. Kids are hard to deal with.]

Oh, pancakes! I'm trying to make pancakes. [He points at the flour with the skillet he's holding.] I couldn't get the bag open, so that happened ...

[bezazzled]

[At least that explains the mess. She steps over a few stray flour piles to make her way toward him.]

I'm not really a rule person, but there's one rule I do follow, and that's if you have never cooked before, trying to by yourself without adult supervision is not a good idea.

[When she eventually makes her way to him, she shakes the powder from her shoes.]

Besides, you're going about this all wrong.

also lazy

[bronwe]

[ In the days after, Frodo has been frequenting the kitchens pretty often. Mostly because food that appears out of thin air feels less satisfactory than one he cooks or at least heats himself. And six meals a day means many trips to the kitchen indeed.

Only this trip is interrupted by him stepping onto a broken eggshell and yelping because no shoes. ]

gosh!!!!

[hellshaped]

[Frodo's yelping causes Hellboy to yelp, and also causes him to fall off the footstool. He doesn't land badly, but the skillet falls to the ground with a really loud clatter.]

Don't do that! You scared me.

[bronwe]

[ OH NO.

Frodo scampers away to hide behind the island, peeking over the corner to see what that red thing was that was yelling his way. It looks... small, almost as tall as him. ]

I'm sorry.

[hellshaped]

[Wow, what ... is this a kid? Or just a very short person? Curious, Hellboy makes his way over to the island, his head tilted to the side.]

Well, you should be more careful. Are you okay?

[bronwe]

[ Frodo steps out, staring at the horns because HORNS. ]

I am, thank you. Are you?

[kidwiththeleash]

[So many people would say stoves and children were a bad idea, but no, not Integra! As a kid herself, she has had to learn to fend for herself, to cook and clean and lord even, make her own tea for the very first time ever in coming to this place.

But this... Well, it was quite the mess she sees when she walks in, and it seems one person is right in the middle of all of it. Hardly afraid of strange things like horns and a tail, not when she's lived with a Nosferatu as a guardian, Integra only sees a little bit of weirdness in this. Mainly the cooking.]

... Hey, what are you doing?

[hellshaped]

[He glances over his shoulder.]

What's it look like? Trying to make pancakes.

[kidwiththeleash]

Pancakes?

[Well... maybe it kind of looks like that.]

Do you need some help?

[hellshaped]

[He considers this for a second, tapping the stonelike fingers of his right hand on the skillet.

But no yeah he doesn't even know what he's doing, really.]

Maybe. Do you know how to make pancakes?

[kidwiththeleash]

I've watched people do it before!

[She picks her skirt up a little to make her way though the mess, to come stand next to Hellboy and take a good look at what he had going on.]

Well, it looks like you did the mix already... So we just have to cook it now!

[Reaching over, she moves to turn the burner on. Pancake time!]

alllll the lazy

[atrophied]

[ ...yep. seems legit. ]

The dials are there to turn it on. But that's a grown-up toy.

oh you

[hellshaped]

It's not a toy, I'm not stupid. I just don't know how to work it.

[Dials, you say? Well, okay. He reaches for one and turns it up all the way and oh wow that's a really big flame.]

Uhh...

:')

[atrophied]

[ Yeah, let's intervene before everything's burned down. House lowers the flame. ]

And that's why it's a grown-up toy. Who's looking after you?

[ Not going to bother asking for parents. ]

[hellshaped]

[GOOD IDEA THERE. For his part, Hellboy just looks curious, watching the flame for a second before looking back at House.]

A lady named Molotov. I haven't seen her for a couple days though, so I'm by myself. Which is fine, I'm practically grown up.

[atrophied]

Molotov?

[ Oh, the image of Molotov as a 50s housewife. Quickly turning into an image of Molotov as a kinky 50s housewife. ]

Oh yes, the horns really make you look grown-up. For the future, you can only touch the stove if you're old enough to vote.