Dango 101

"Alright, Natas, was it?" Dan glanced up from the spread of ingredients before him at the bun scantily clad in red latex, scanning him up and down quickly, tail twitching in mild discontent. He'd had to remind him that he was there to learn on multiple occasions already, he'd been far too preoccupied with wandering to the back to flirt with Shibani, and he was already starting to tire of the other bun. 

"Mhm!" Natas smiled and pushed some of his dark red hair behind one of his horns, tail swishing back and forth before coiling itself tightly around his waist like some sort of makeshift belt, a simple fix to keep it from knocking anything over. 

Dan took a deep breath, continuing gruffly, "Well, if you're finally willing to keep your attention on learning, we can begin." He motioned towards a sack of rice flour and promptly ordered him to get the required quantity, slowly and calmly explaining the dango making process, as simple as the dough may be, he made sure to regularly glance back at him to reassure himself he was in fact paying attention, asking him to recite given information after each small step to make certain it was actually sinking in. "And now?"

"Oh!" Natas jumped a little, seemingly excited. "Now we pound out the dough-- right?" He suddenly paused, face flushing. "Or... oh, wait, right, we're making Dango. You don't...you don't really do that to dango." He chuckled sheepishly, fidgeting with one of his ears and rocking back on his heels, softly stimming. "Color and flavor them?"

Dan nodded, explaining that they were making a raspberry batch, and sighing to himself softly, choosing to glance over and praise him for realizing his mistake and swiftly correcting himself, averting his eyes back to the dough when the smaller bun made a high pitched squeal in response and rapidly clicked his heels on the floor. "Grab those raspberries." He stepped aside and motioned him in front of the dough. "All you have to do is crush them up and knead them into the dough until it's smooth. We won't strain the berries so the seeds give a small crunch." He crossed his arms and let him step in and start mushing up the cyan berries into the half made dough, watching over his shoulder so he could gently correct any issues in technique, making simple recommendations for wrist angle and movements. When he was satisfied with the smoothness of the dough he instructed him to wash the berry juice and dough goo off his hands while he prepared a pot to boil water. 

"I can help!" Natas ran off and washed his hands as quick as he could so he could rush back and help lug a large pot full of water and attempt to show off to the big buff bun he was crushing on. Of course, his attempts were in vain, but he was pleased with himself nonetheless. 

"Right.. Alright, while the water comes to a boil, help form the dough into evenly shaped balls." He tore a chunk off the dough lump and showed him how to properly shape it, sighing as he watched him make a strangely misshapen orb. "Close enough." They both made the rest of the dough into balls, Dan taking a moment to explain the raspberry topping he'd premade ahead of time to drizzle over the top of the finished product. "Ah- water is boiling." He allowed him to drop the balls into the water, explaining that they should be taken out a few minutes after they began to float and immediately dropped into an ice bath to abruptly end the cooking process. 

"Right! Got it!" Natas watched the brightly colored orbs intently, glancing back and forth between Dan and the rumbling water, quickly scooping them out and dropping them in the ice bowl the second Dan nodded in approval, repeating the process of fishing them out as the rest floated to the surface. "Ok!! Ok ok... Skewers now, right?" He was incredibly excited that he was doing this at least somewhat correctly, and that Dan was mildly praising him, no matter how mild that praise was. 

"Correct." Dan handed him a skewer and showed him how to skewer the dango balls without messing them up, setting aside his own completed skewer. "Now you try." He watched Natas very carefully skewer three of the balls, his tongue poking out slightly. "Very good." The corner of his mouth twitched up slightly when the smaller bun beamed at him. "Now do a few more and set them aside, I need to grab something." 

"Correct." Dan handed him a skewer and showed him how to skewer the dango balls without messing them up, setting aside his own completed skewer. "Now you try." He watched Natas very carefully skewer three of the balls, his tongue poking out slightly. "Very good." The corner of his mouth twitched up slightly when the smaller bun beamed at him. "Now do a few more and set them aside, I need to grab something." 

"Here, you did alright today, keep practicing." He passed the flour and sticks off to Natas. "Maybe if you keep getting better I'll hire you on someday, eh?"

Natas let out another high pitched squeal and thanked him profusely, heels rapid clicking against the floor again in pure excitement, tail unraveling and rapidly swishing back and forth...before knocking a dango onto the floor and quickly wrapping itself back around his waist, sheepishly giggling and darting out the door before Dan could take back what he'd said, leaving the other bun shaking his head in mild amusement.