Arrow (arrowroro) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2020-09-26 14:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | ronnie milam, ~mikey marks, ~ro clark |
The Great Searchlight Bakeoff
Who: Ro, Ronnie, and Mikey
What: Pie contest
Where: Ronnie's House
When: Wednesday September 23rd
Since he had left the Master Chef kitchen, Ronnie had not been involved in creation challenges. He found the competition exciting, though. And he couldn’t remember if he’d ever told Mikey about his time on television, not wanting that story to seem pretentious considering the outcome. Well, if he didn’t know by now then he’d find out tonight.
He’d been in the tiny kitchen on Lincoln drive baking.
The challenge consisted of himself and Ro making two different types of pie. His own would be apple, because why not, and a buttermilk pie in an old-fashioned vein. He was glad that Mikey would be involved - there was no way he could eat four pies and he doubted Ro wouldn’t be able to finish all of those either.
With both pies cooling on the counter, he waited for his new friend to arrive. The door to the front of the house was open like always, a screen acting as the only barrier between the outside and the inside.
Because he was so caught up in the event, he didn’t worry about the creeping paranoia and fear he’d been feeling lately about his encounter with the strange man who had threatened him. In fact, he was feeling like his usual cheerful self and hummed softly to himself.
It didn’t take much to send Mikey over to Ronnie’s place, and ‘pie contest’ was pretty much ensured to get his ass through the door. Apparently, Ronnie’d met a fellow baking enthusiast - his boyfriend was always meeting new people -- and if this got his mind off current events, Mikey was all about it.
He pulled up in his truck, jumping out of the cab, the pie smells in the air already pricking at his nose before he knocked on the door and pushed it open.
“Hey, baby,” he called out as he walked through the door, “if this is based off smell, you got this person beat.” He walked over to Ronnie and gave the shorter man a hug. “Hey,” he repeated, “seriously, this place smells fucking amazing.” He sniffed Ronnie’s neck. “You do too,” he added with a grin, giving Ronnie a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey!” Ronnie chimed. He threw his arms around Mikey and held him close. “Thanks. It’s all in good fun, you know?” He wanted to put on a good impression but he also didn’t mind at all if Ro was better than him. As long as they all were having fun, that was what mattered.
“So, I’ve got Apple and Buttermilk pie,” he stated, sweeping at the two sweets. “And I need you to take one for the team and try them. But only when Ro gets here with hers.” He had no idea what she was planning but that was okay, it made the whole thing that much more pure.
And who could beat a good pie?
Ro's wheels crunched outside and the sound of a car door closing announced her arrival. She'd also been excited for this pie challenge. It wasn’t the kind of thing that happened to her every day and anything that promised a new amusement couldn't be beat. Winning wasn't even the most important thing (though she'd prefer it). More important was having a good time at the judging and tasting and getting to know a new person. She did like people.
Ro was still wearing her sunglasses as she walked up to the screen door of the trailer and she had a large bag in hand. Already she could smell the sweet aroma of baking from inside. "Knock knock," she called. Then once she'd been ushered inside, "I feel like I should get bonus points to make up for not having that new pie smell."
That call had Ronnie twisting around to look at the door, the lilt of the voice told him it wasn’t the man from the store and his grin widened. “Hey Ro!” Ronnie called. He pulled from Mikey and almost ran to the door to open it - his hip was bothering him and he didn’t do more than a quick shuffle - pushing the screen for Ro to enter. “Welcome!”
He waved her in, letting the screen slam shut behind her. “They’re going to be good regardless, and we can always give them a warm up if you’d like.”
Ronnie grinned and pointed at the blonde in his kitchen, “That’s Mikey, our judge for the evening and my boyfriend. Mikey, this is Ro, my new baking friend.”
Mikey had been prepared for the inevitable awkward stumble of introductions -- he wasn’t nearly as confident as Ronnie was when it came to that sort of stuff, and didn’t really know Ro -- but Ronnie took care of it effortlessly.
Mikey’s grin was quick and warm as he extended a hand. “Friend of Ronnie’s is always a friend of mine. Pleased to meet you, Ro.”
Ro looked like a character, covered in tattoos with a sharp haircut and sharper eyes, but Searchlight had their fair share of characters, and Ronnie seemed at ease around her, so he figured she was okay.
“What’d you bring?”
Mikey, big and blonde, was just as handsome as his boyfriend. Weren't they a pair in light and dark. She wondered why Penny had pushed at her Ronnie. This guy seemed nice enough.
Ro reached out for Mikey's hand, almost tentative at first just letting her fingertips brush his skin. Just a moment and then she shook his hand with enthusiasm. "Nice to meet you. You look like you can put away some pie. But I don't know if I should lodge a complaint about boyfriend's judging. Party foul, Ronnie!" Her eyes were light though, teasing.
Finding a place to unpack her bag, Ro took two boxes out marked with the Brasserie Le Breeze logo. "Never mind the boxes. I took them from work but I made these. Would have made them even if they were from work but I did these special."
She opened the pastry boxes and carefully lifted out her pies. "I felt like one last taste of summer. There's a blueberry and a key lime." The blueberry was done with a traditional woven topcrust but Ro had set the interlocking strips of pastry on a diagonal and braided the rim. She'd also decorated one side of the crust by lining the rim of the crust with pastry leaves and flowers. The key lime was a little more plain with the edges lined with piped whipped cream and candied lime wedges set at intervals on the cream.
“Oh, he’s judging fairly, I promise,” Ronnie laughed. Plus Mikey could eat all of this pie. Maybe not in one sitting but the cougar could put some food away if he wanted to.
“Let me help!” He moved to Ro and helped with the pies once the boxes were down. “What’s this place? I don’t think I’ve heard of it?” He looked at the logo with interest. “I need to check it out.” He hoped it was safe to go there but the thought left as soon as it came.
“Alright. Are we ready for the part where we eat?”
“Well, okay,” Mikey replied, “let’s get specific, yeah? Like, how are we judging these? I think there should be categories -- like… appearance, crust, filling, overall taste… if there’s points for each category… or… you know,” he shrugged, a little embarrassed at his enthusiasm, “we just eat and enjoy, no need to get crazy.”
He looked at the spread. “I mean,” he added, “I’m pretty sure I’m the real winner here.”
Shooting Ro a quick grin and a wink, he continued. “I’m gonna do my best to be impartial,” he continued, “but, you know, this guy got me to date him cos of his apple pie, so you’ve got some competition.”
"It's in Vegas, I'm the pastry chef there." Ro answered before doubling over in exaggerated shock. "You got him with a pie? Unfair. I'm lodging a formal complaint to the Olympic Committee and UNICEF and the United Nations. I want an official investigation and I'm playing under protest."
She grinned. "Nah, Ronnie and I agreed to be fair like professionals." Not entirely able to resist, she added. "Let's see if mine is good enough to catch you."
Mikey laughed by way of reply, and looked over to Ronnie. “I dunno about that,” he replied. “It was a really good pie.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Should this be with milk?” He added. “Something right about pie and milk.”
“Cool, yeah, good idea! Categories. A points system.” Clearly he had not thought of this. His brain kicked on. From the fridge he grabbed a notepad and a pen, setting it down on the counter. “And the winner, obviously, is the person who Mikey scores the best.”
And then a playful, shocked gasp would come and he looked at Ro as if she’d offended him. “Don't make me call the Boy Scouts of America, Reba MacEntyre, Martha Stewart, and Gordon Ramsay. I’ll do it.” The entire world full of sweethearts could be way better than UNICEF.
“Right. Milk! It goes perfect.” A mad scramble to the fridge again and he found the carton post haste.
"Don't threaten me with Ramsey, number two. You'll have to go get your scrunchie first." Ro waved a finger to underscore her point. "Are there plates? I'm dying to try yours."
“Hey, hey. That hurts. Okay?” Ronnie set a hand over the spot on his chest where his heart was. “But I can forgive you. Plates are there.” He laughed and grabbed them all plates and utensils.
Mikey was used to Ronnie’s energy, but Ronnie and Ro together was a definite live wire. He looked back and forth at them like he was an observer at a tennis match as they bounced off of one another while he wrote down categories, and grabbed the glasses and forks while Ronnie scrambled for the milk.
“Right,” he said, “are you… are you scoring each other too? Or is this all just me?” He looked at the spread of pies on the table. “You know,” he added, “you can do this again, like, any time you want.”
"I think we should to keep it fair. I want a fighting chance." When utensils appeared she set about cutting slices.
"I bet you would, big guy. Oh feed me. Ro, Ronnie I'm so hungry. Please feed pies and cakes." She drew out the syllables and threw her back a little as she spoke. No judgment from her, people could eat what they liked. Ro was personally fond of anything that came with cheese sauce.
"Hey, we never set stakes," she added suddenly.
“Yeah, we gotta do this fair. So we are gonna eat but Mikey, you’re the judge. If there’s a tie, then we chime in fairly, yeah?” Then he giggled a bit at Ro’s impression.
Then Ronnie blinked, “Stakes? Alright, it’s a betting town. What do you want if you win?” He pointed at Ro, squinting dramatically.
Mikey’d flushed at Ro’s little display, and covered for it by serving up the pie and avoiding eye contact. At Ro’s mention of stakes, he looked up at her.
“Now, before we settle on stakes,” he said, “I’m assuming these were made old school, yeah?” He quirked an eyebrow. “Nothin’ extra?” He added with a knowing look tossed Ro’s way.
While the smell of all that freshly baked pie kept filling his nostrils in stages, he could smell Ro wasn’t quite human, and while this was all fun and games, he did want to make sure Ronnie was on an even playing field.
Ro couldn’t help the way the corners of her mouth turned up at Mikey's little blush. There was a smidgen of attraction coming her way off the blonde man. Nothing compared to what he seemed to have for his boyfriend.
"Extra? I didn't spike them with LSD or anything if that's what you're asking. If I want to do that I'll put on my fishnets and pleather and go find a place where everyone needs glowsticks the way nature intended." She'd spent a couple fun nights that way back in the '90s.
"People sometimes regret asking me to pick things. In this case, I don't know, loser makes dinner?"
“Deal!” Ronnie nodded, offering his hand to Ro to shake on their little bet. Even if he won he’d keep it simple. He didn’t regret at all asking Ro to choose, it seemed fairer that way. “Okay, so, loser makes dinner. Alright babe, let’s get on with the competition.”
Ronnie made sure they all had milk, plates, utensils. “I’ll be scorekeeper unless Ro wants the honors.” He made two columns on the paper, one for each of them, and then the few down the left for the pies and subcategories. “He probably should’ve done this blindfolded. Oh well.” Sake of fairness and all.
Afterwards, Mikey leaned back in his chair with a satisfied groan, patting his belly. Ro’d eked out a win by virtue of the amazing appearance of both her pies, but they were far closer in scores when it came to flavor. The key lime was the top of the four pies -- a beautiful, creamy, tart pie that just melted in everyone’s mouths -- closely followed by the buttermilk, with the fruit pies not that far behind.
“Man,” he said with an exhale, “I mean, man. Pies are awesome.” He smiled over to Ronnie. “You’re awesome,” he added. “And congrats, Ro,” he continued, looking over at the baker. “Well done.”
"Hey, I'm a little bit awesome too," Ro protested, completely without malice. The pies had been delicious. Ronnie was a solid baker and knew his way around a crust. The buttermilk had actually reminded Ro of something served in the cafeteria at boarding school, way back when. "And you," she told Ronnie, "owe me dinner.”
“Dude,” Ronnie laughed, looking at Ro, “you’re way awesome! Like super awesome.” Then he nodded, throwing his hands up in defeat. “You got me. You won fair and square. Dinner is totally on me.” He’d had fun, that was the best part.