Making New Foods

Rosamel had been invited back to learn how to make mochi. She was trepidatious, but excited. She remembered the burn between her shoulder blades the last time she had tried to learn, but she’s been working on her muscles since then.

She entered his workshop. His unsmiling face was a familiar sight, even if she could see some form of happiness in his eyes when he saw her. Dan sat his mallet against his shoulder and waited for her to approach.

“Rosamel, I swear I could set a clock by you.”

“Try and see, Dan,” she responded jokingly. She knew that she was more or less punctual. In fact, she wound her clocks at the same time each week.

“Ready to try your hands at mochi again?”

“At least this time I shouldn’t have to be told to stop.” She joked, having their first meeting well in mind.

Dan chuckled, a rare thing in Rosamel’s experience. This caused her to smile wryly. She walked over to Dan, taking his spare mallet in hand. She was anxious, but she would not let that show. The mochi maker looked at her for a moment before leading her to the workspace.

Working on the mochigome was easier this time. She was able to swing the mallet without breaking the rhythm. She did not smile, focusing on how the mallet fell and rose, her forehand sliding slightly with each swing. She quickly found enjoyment in this work. The pride bun watched her, seeing how she relaxed as she worked. He thought that the relaxation she felt was because the task was repetitive like some baking tasks that she would have knowledge of. They were focused on the rose water mochi, with the tea master having brought rose petals from her supplies.

The pink tinted dough was soon formed and Dan had the sloth bun put the mallet down. He carefully taught Rosamel how to form the mochi. She seemed to take to this with ease, a show that she was at home with making sweets.

As they shaped mochi, they talked, joking a bit. The duo seemed more at ease with each other as time rolled on. They talked about methods of food preparation. Dan steered the conversation to tea making, which Rosamel was more than happy to discuss.

The time flew by and they finished making the Rosewater Mochi. They figured that they should switch up what they were making and Rosamel took some milkweed from her herbal box. They started a fresh batch of mochigome. When the dough was the right consistency, they began to fill and shape the sky blue sweet.

They kept at this for the entire day. Mochi was slowly piling up, though it seemed that a few had disappeared. After noticing this a few times, the tea maker pointed it out and they kept an eye on the mochi piles.

A few moments later, they spotted a skeletal hand reaching from under a counter to grab a piece of mochi. Rosamel grabbed this hand and pulled the culprit up. She was met with the half-skeletal face of a sneaky friend. This friend gave the duo a smirk.

“Aletheia, what are you doing?” the pink bun asked tersely.

“They are stealing from my shop again, that’s what.” Dan said flatly.

“Again?” the tea maker raised an eyebrow.

Aletheia laughed a bit, swiftly grabbing one of the freshly made mochis from the pile and eating it. The punk bun did not seem the least bit deterred by the glare from the mochi maker or by the irritation in Rosamel’s eyes. Before Aletheia could grab another sweet, Rosamel bid Dan farewell and pulled her friend away from the shop.