New Skill: Dango Crafting Unlocked

Closing up his shop for the day, Zach turned the knob of the door to his cafe just to make sure it was locked tight. He couldn't help the excited feeling welling up inside him; he was usually tired at this point and more than happy to head home and wind down with low-energy activities, but after making an appointment with Dan and being promised how to be shown to make dango... well, Zach couldn't really contain his excitement.

Checking once more to make sure his shop was locked up tight, Zach whirled the keys around his finger and pocketed them before hurrying to meet with Dan.

Thankfully, Zach arrived on time to the appointment. Despite that, Dan still looked like he'd sucked on a sour lemon, and Zach felt like he'd already been chastined even though the lesson hadn't yet begun.

Breathing in and stepping forward, Zach steeled his nerves, likening it to dealing with a problem customer. Tact and diplomacy was the key here, and of course respectfulness since Dan wasn't technically a customer.

But the same skillset applied, especially when Dan was a lot like Valerian in mannerisms.

Moving over to the main space where dango was prepared, Zach inhaled and rolled his sleeves up, ready to get started.

"Pots, pans, bowls." said Dan, clear and consise as he pointed out the utensils spread across the counter that they were going to use. "You mix rice flour and sugar together to make the base while adding hot water. But we'll soak the skewers in regular water first."

"Why is it important to soak them?" asked Zach, who obedienty set them in water despite not being sure what use this held.

"So they go on easier," said Dan, in a matter-of-fact tone. He gave a ghost of a smile to Zach though, so Zach assumed he was doing something right with asking questions, even though he felt they were a bit dumb.

But one had to learn somewhere, right?

Mixing the ingredients together, Zach hummed to himself as he watched it come together under Dan's watchful eye.

"Good job," said Dan, and Zach couldn't help but feel that there was a bit of humor in his tone. "Now we'll separate them into smaller pieces, and color them accordingly." Dan crossed his arms as he watched, explaining the process bit by bit just so Zach could go through the motions and learn by doing it himself.

Happy to delve into the dough and knead it by hand, Zach made sure to put a small amount of color into the singular pieces, rolling them between his palms and setting them aside once he deemed them finished enough to resemble a dango.

By the time Zach was done, his arms, face, and ears were a complete mess of sticky flour, but he couldn't be any prouder over the misshapen lumps on the table that he'd made himself.

As instructed before, Zach carefully spooned the balls into hot water and boiled them until they rose to the surface, then with Dan's instruction, put them gently into an ice bath. It was a lot of work, but he was more than happy with the end result.

By the time they were finished, there were a ton of dangos in various colors and oblong circular shapes piled up on various plates, but despite Zach's dangos not even coming close to the perfection that Dan's were, he still made these with his own two hands.

It was his hard work, and he was proud of it.

"Now for the final touch," said Dan, nodding to the piles of dangos on all of Zach's plates. He gestured at the barren plate and the skewers, waiting for Zach to make the final dango for Dan to judge.

"Okay," said Zach, nervously taking three of the pink dangos and a skewer. He set the dangos on the plate before taking one and gently prodding the skewer into it, pleased to see that it didn't take much time at all. Soaking the skewers had helped, and Zach was ever grateful for the tip.

Easing the other two onto the skewer after the first, Zach placed the finished dango stick on the plate, stepping back to let Dan judge. Dan moved to pick up the dango carefully, twisting it from side to side to look at every angle before finally taking a bite. He chewed thoughtfully, swallowing before nodding in what looked like approval.

"Practice makes perfect," said Dan, wiping a stray bit of dango off the corner of his lips, setting the rest down. "It's not quite there yet, but it's a good start." He thought for a moment, eyes lingering on the plated dango. "A bit less sugar next time, I think."

"Oh! I see. I tend to like things a little sweeter," said Zach, smiling apologetically as he gave a slight bow to the other bun. "Thank you for showing me how. I only hope to get better, if nothing else than to improve my cafe's menu."

"Cafe?" Dan's head tilted to the side. "What kind of cafe?"

"Just the usual, honestly! Mostly coffee, a little tea, but I wanted to do a mixture. I also have imps that you can visit with if you want, just to cuddle with! All the benefits of owning an imp with a single visit without having to clean up after one yourself."

Dan's smile was slow. "Well, then. I look forward to visiting when you improve."