Elio The Mochi Master

Elio was excited. 

He’d worked with Dan before and learned how to make delicious Dango, and now the other was going to teach him the secrets of his seasonal mochi! 

It was a dream come true. 

Elio liked to offer little snacks in his bar, and if he could learn the base recipe for mochi, maybe he could come up with his own neat inventions that were exclusive to Coney’s. 

The fiery succubun knocked on the door to Dan’s workshop and smiled as he opened the door. 

“Elio, punctual as always, come in, I’m excited to teach you my recipes,” Dan said to him clearly before leading the others inside. Elio closed the door behind him and followed Dan diligently through the delicious-smelling workshop to a small area near the back wear the mochi maker had set up two workstations. 

“Here we are,” Dan said to him softly and handed him a mallet. “For you.”

Elio’s eyes beamed, his very own mallet! It was beautiful, perfect…okay, it was a little old. Probably an older one Dan had, but still, it was his. 

“Ah, thanks, Dan,” Elio replied and twirled the mallet in his hand before looking to the other. 

“Ready?” Dan asked, and Elio nodded. 

“Absolutely!”

With that, Dan got to work. Showing Elio all the tricks and tips that he’d learned over the course of his dango-making and mochi-crafting career. He showed Elio how to shape and flavour the mochi. Each secret ingredient was more alluring than the next. 

Elio was busy making a gold dusted mochi, he wanted to feed it to his Loafki Ziggy when he got home - that little guy just loved the taste of this flavour! 

After the mochi had been molded and crafted, Dan instructed Elio best on how to present the mochi so it looked absolutely delectable to the customer. He nodded approvingly as the fiery Succubun did some finishing touches to his dish before plating it. 

Dan gave another nod of approval as he looked the mochi up and down before showering Elio with praise and a silent thumbs up. 

“You’ve gotten the hang of it pretty quickly,” Dan said with a sort of smile as he helped Elio clean up. 

“Well I have a great teacher,” Replied the other, getting a soft laugh from the mochi master. Once everything was clean, Dan invited Elio for some tea. The pair sat, ate a wagashi Dan had prepared and sipped tranquil tea for the afternoon. 

When the tea was drunk and they were both out of conversation, Elio nodded his thanks to Dan and departed off home with his gold dusted mochi in a small bag for Ziggy. He climbed the steps to his apartment, turned the key and was immediately greeted by his two purring companions - Fester the Fellantern and Ziggy the festival Loafki. 

“Hey guys,” Elio said softly and squatted down to pet them both, scratching them in all the good places before smiling at Ziggy, who pawed at the bag. 

“Ah yes, I brought your favourite Zigs, come on,” he said, and Ziggy jumped up on the counter to receive the delicious treat from Elio. The other happily gave one mochi to Ziggy who devoured it way too quickly, and the other to Fester, who nibbled on it happily. 

“You’re two cuties, hey, now that I know how to make these, I can get the ingredients and make them for you all the time,” Elio told them and pet them both as he smiled, happy with his productive day of learning. 

Fester and Ziggy just made soft sounds back, both now full of sweet mochi and ready for another cat nap.