[ Voice ]

[bydesign]

[ Madoka's voice comes over the journal singing!! ]

Happy birthday to me~! Happy birthday to me~!

Happy birthday [ ........ nope too shy to go on. She cuts herself off with giggles at and is almost audibly covering her face. She still sounds pretty pleased though; ] Ah, never mind, forget that! It's too embarrassing!

But, back when everyone was still at Isla Empieza, did anyone see somewhere that might have cake? Just a small one would be fine...

Comments

[infinitime_loop]

Especially not someone like Hajime.

[ For a moment, Homura looks a bit- ruffled? Exasperated? - as her last encounter with Hajime comes to mind. ]

... do you know if she's doing alright?

[bydesign]

She seemed alright to me... But I don't know for sure, I guess.

[infinitime_loop]

That's good.

[ They enter the market area; Homura glances over at the stalls, looking for any selling fruit. ]

... the last time I spoke to her, she and her friends didn't even have a ship yet. It's worrisome.

[bydesign]

I know I've spoken to her since then, at least. She has a crew, and one of them is prone to sea-sickness - but that means they're all out on the water.

[infinitime_loop]

[ A bit of the tension drains out of Homura's stance. ]

As long as they're out on the water and haven't sunk their ship yet, I'm sure they'll be fine.

[bydesign]

I'm sure Hajime-san has it under control.

[infinitime_loop]

You're probably right.

[ Homura pauses, looking over the market stalls with a frown. ]

... I don't see any strawberries. Are they out of season?

[bydesign]

I think they are... Maybe raspberries, then? Those are in season!

[infinitime_loop]

[ After a moment, Homura nods, focusing in like a hawk on the hunt. MADOKA'S BIRTHDAY CAKE IS SERIOUS BUSINESS. ]

There. That stall has them. How many do we need?

[bydesign]

A lot, so that I can snack on the extras.

[infinitime_loop]

As long as you don't get sick eating them before they go bad.

[ ... she says as she buys them anyway. ]

[bydesign]

Our crew has gotten so big that I don't think that'll be a problem. I'm sure someone will eat them.

[infinitime_loop]

True. We'll have to use a lot of them for the cake, as well.

[ Holding the container of berries like a normal human instead of stuffing them into an interdimensional wormhole powered by broken dreams and Faustian bargains, aka her hammerspace ]

What's next on the list?

[bydesign]

Sugar, flour, and baking powder. We'll get to the refrigerated stuff last.

[ ... casually grabbing an extra container of berries, shhh don't tell anyone. ]

[infinitime_loop]

[ Homura can't judge because seriously, she cleaned out like five military bases in one go. ]

[ But she'll still shoot her friend a look. ]

Flour and sugar will be easy to find. Baking powder... I don't know if they have it during this era.

[bydesign]

[ SO INNOCENT man you don't even know ]

Eh? Really?

Then is there a substitute we can use...?

[infinitime_loop]

[ SHE CAN'T FOOL HOMURA WITH THAT INNOCENT LO- alright yes she can ]

Cakes have been around for a long time. There should be some sort of substitute, like... yeast. Or simply more of the other ingredients.

[ She seems confident, but then again, she's... good at seeming confident. ]

[bydesign]

Let's look for yeast, then, and if we can't find any... Well, we'll just deal with that, then.

[infinitime_loop]

Alright. If we can't find any, we'll figure out how to make do without it.

[ ...... in an anti-climactic twist, though, they find some pretty quickly. After that, the other ingredients are easy to track down, and soon enough, Homura's laden down with a few bags, with the heavier sacks going into her hammerspace. ]

[ Homura looks extremely satisfied. ]

Is there anything else you want to pick up?

[bydesign]

Nope, that was everything!

Now all that's left is... Actually baking it. [ s-sigh she doesn't have much confidence in that part. ]

[infinitime_loop]

... yes.

[ Neither does Homura, AND she doesn't... want to be the one to ruin Madoka's birthday cake... ]

Does Hajime's instructions come with measurements for each ingredient?

[bydesign]

She gave me all the measurements, but I forgot to ask for instructions...

[infinitime_loop]

We need further instructions? I thought you just... mixed the ingredients and put it into a mold...

[ When she says it out loud, it suddenly doesn't sound very helpful. ]

[bydesign]

Is it that easy?

Watching papa cook always seemed really structured. Um... [ trying to remember.... but yeah she's got nothin' ] Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. You mix it all together anyway, right? So it'll be fine!

[infinitime_loop]

[ worrying intensifies ]

Structured... well, we'll figure something out.

[ They arrive back at the ship in short order, and Homura begins unpacking the ingredients, transforming into her outfit to pull out the sacks of flour ]

Madoka, did you ever watch your father bake a cake?