Bubble Bubble Explosive Tart

Lumen was in high spirits— it was fall, one of their favorite seasons. They have their fall bash picnic in the works, and baking was on the agenda. They managed to befriend good amount of buns, this will be the biggest fall bash that they ever had. The occulist couldn't help to buzz with excitement at the thought of the upcoming party. Lumen was humming and hawing over recipes for the day, but settled on one with a triumphant "Aha!" and began reading the recipe for a "Delightful Autumn Tart."

The kitchen was arrayed with a chaos of ingredients, each one messier than the last. Lumen and the group's enthusiastic yet decent bakers, was confident, holding a recipe they swore was fail-proof. Romeo and Tiril, less than stellar bakers, looked on with dubious expressions.

"Trust me, this recipe is fantastic!" They said, opening a weathered book. The others exchanged looks, before shrugging and turning their attention to the book. "We need some apples, cinnamon, and cloves, I'll get the apples." They said, heading to the fridge.

Romeo, who was reading the recipe, suddenly perked up. "Wait, you guys put a whole apple into this?"

Lumen nodded as they pulled a few from the fridge. "Yup! It gives the crust a really nice crunch."

Tiril frowned, his gaze shifting to the oven. "It'll probably just get soft and gross, won't it?"

"Nope! I've made these loads of times before and they always turn out great. You guys are gonna love them!" Lumen said, taking out a knife and beginning to peel the apples.

"Alright, I'll trust you, but if these come out awful I'm never trusting you again." Tiril said, rolling up his sleeves and preparing himself and hopefully not a fool of himself.

"Hey, how much cinnamon should we put in?" Romeo called.

"Two and a half teaspoons, maybe?" Lumen responded.

"Maybe? Don't we want a lot? I've heard you're not supposed to skimp on spices."

Lumen paused for a moment. "Okay, then three and a half teaspoons."

Tiril cracked eggs, shells and all, into the batter. Romeo dumped in flour like it was going out of style.

"Hey, what about the cloves?" Romeo asked.

"Uh... a handful?"

"A handful?" Tiril interjected.

"Yes, a handful." Lumen answered, as they chopped apples into pieces.

Romeo, eager to assist, began mixing ingredients in a bowl, while Lumen haphazardly tossed apples into the air, attempting to catch them in the bowl. Ren and Cedric exchanged a glance, their eyebrows raised in joint skepticism.

"Hey, is this right?" Romeo asked, presenting his work. Lumen paused their fruit-catching and gave the batter a taste.

"Needs a little more cinnamon." They said, after swallowing a mouthful of batter.

"More? It already has like five teaspoons!"

"Six and a half. I said a handful, remember?"

"I-I'm sorry, did you just say 'a handful?'" Tiril asked.

"Yeah."

Tiril took a deep breath, then closed his eyes.

"What's the recipe say for sugar?"

"Oh, we're not putting any in."

Tiril froze. "...What."

"No sugar."

"WHAT?!"

"Tiril, I told you, the apples are sweet enough as it is. If we add sugar, the flavor will be way too sweet."

"But you're literally making a pie!"

"It's not a pie, it's a tart!"

"Whatever!"

Tiril crossed his arms and scowled at the floor. Lumen gave the batter another taste, before giving Romeo the go-ahead.Soon, the kitchen was in chaos. Romeo's batter was too lumpy. Lumen’s apple slices resembled chunks of a broken heart rather than the thin, elegant slivers the recipe called for. But Lumen, cheerily oblivious, declared it was all going swimmingly.

"Is it done yet?" Ren asked, as Lumen and Tiril placed the dough into the oven.

"Not yet, but it should be ready in an hour." Lumen said, dusting their hands.

"An hour?" Tiril looks at the occultist with a raised brow.

"Mhm! That's the beauty of baking."

"I hope you're right, 'cause if these things don't turn out well, I'm never going to speak to you again."

After a hour, the pie was finally done! It was a sight to behold. It had an odd, asymmetrical shape, and a hue that was somewhere between gold and unsettling green. As they took it out of the oven, it started to bubble ominously.

"Er, Lumen," Ren asked cautiously, "why is the pie... bubbling?"

"It's not a pie, it's a tart!"

"Sure, sure. But why is it doing that?"

Lumen blinked, glancing at the 'recipe'. "Oh.. well funny story” They felt some beads of sweat run down their cheek while they nervously chuckle.

"What? What did you do?" Romeo asked.

" This is my novice potion recipe book, not the recipe book for the tarts. " They mumbled the last part.

"Your what?!" Tiril shrieked.

Before anyone could react, the pie exploded, showering them in a sticky mess of half-baked sweets. They stood there, blinking in shock before laughter erupted. Romeo, giddy with hilarity, scooped a handful of the pie remains and chucked it at Lumen, initiating a full-blown food fight.

As the pie crumbles came flying, Ren dove behind the counter, grabbing a handful of pie, which he hurled at his opponent, splattering Tiril across the face. He stared at him for a second before a wicked grin spread across his face and he scooped up his own portion.

Cedric had been trying his best to stay out of the action, but a pie crumble smacked him across the face, and that was the final straw. He picked up a handful of the remaining pie and hurled it at Tiril, who was laughing like a hyena.

Soon, the entire kitchen was a war zone, everyone was coated in pie.

"Well, we did it." Romeo said.

"Did what?" Tiril asked, wiping a glob of pie off of his cheek.

"Made a tart. A disgusting, half-baked tart."

The group laughed again, and began the tedious task of cleaning the kitchen.

"I can't believe you didn't realize it was a potion book." Romeo snickered.

"I have a lot of recipe books!" Lumen exclaimed. "And besides, how was I supposed to know that you can't mix potions and cooking ingredients?!"

"It's pretty common knowledge, actually." Cedric chuckled.

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey, wait," Ren asked, looking up from his dishcloth, "you said you made these 'loads' of times. How come I've never seen you make them?"

Lumen paused and slowly look to the side with a little chuckle.

"...That is a good question."

Ren sighed. "I can't believe we just wasted all this pie. This was the worst idea you've ever had."

“ I had worse but we had fun though, didn't we?" Lumen sheepishly grin at their goop covered friends.

"Yeah, we did." Tiril smiled, despite himself.

"Next time, I'm going to be in charge of the recipe." Ren playfully flicks Lumen’s forehead, earning a pout from the occultist.