"And you're absolutely sure you'll be alright on your own, hun?"
Coffee leaned against the stone archway leading into the kitchen, a worried look, albeit a poorly stifled one, over her face. Fluff paid no mind as he continued kneading dough, humming as he did so; not that he had much mind to spend in the first place. That was actually part of the problem, if you could believe it.
"Mmmmmmhm," he slowly hummed with a nod, as well as that big 'ol perpetual smile on his face, "...I'll just be here, kneading, and baking, and kneading, and glazing, and baking-"
"If you say so, hun, I'll be back as soon as I can!" she interrupted before he had a chance to zone out, which wasn't all too difficult given how slowly he tended to speak in the mornings. Honestly it was probably more akin to picking up a snail, turning it toward a different direction, a new goal if you will, and then watching it continue forward as if nothing had happened. He waved back and continued to knead.
Fluff was seldom left alone in the café for terribly long. One might assume it was because he wasn't particularly the brightest, (which was only correct to an extent) though it usually ceases to be an issue once he's baking; alternatively because he was just too damn chill, sometimes to the point where he'll forget he's lounging by the fire and end up half-baked on accident. But those mishaps they could deal with.
The real issue, the one that never fails to break Coffee's heart especially, was his very apparent separation anxiety. He'll deny it all he wants but the others knew firsthand he had quite a nasty case of it, even for a Knight . But today was one of those days, she had errands to take care of while Shen and Bean were gone, and to make matters worse she couldn't bring him along.
Fluff dusted his arms as he finished kneading this batch of dough. He was made of the stuff, you see, and the arms in particular had the tendency to become terribly sticky if left unhindered. Though, as one could probably imagine, the act of haphazardly covering oneself with flour in a room almost exclusively defined by having multiple different open flames was always a risky business.
The plan for today was Coffee's favorite, on account of today being her birthday and all that, Bread Puddin' Bowls. Step one was to prepare the dough, bread dough, which he had just finished. Step two was-
...Creak...
He jumped a bit at the sudden noise, but figured it was simply the house settling. Anyways, step two was-
Click-Clack
Step two was-
Clang!
He waited a moment, figuring the house might've been more uncomfortable than usual, before feigning the thought of what step 2 was.
...
That was more like it. Anyways, step-
HISS!
He whirled around towards the window, now realizing that something was sure to be out there. In fact, now that he was paying attention he could most definitely make out the sounds of rummaging outside, in the supply shed to be precise; sounds of clicking, chirping, and hissing intermixed between them. Something, or somethings from the sound of it, was out there. But Fluff was no coward. With a gesture resembling the rolling up of his sleeves he barged out the backdoor to give 'em what for.
"Oi! Wot's all this then?"
Two Kobolds , each coming up to about Bean's chest in height from the looks of it, stared back with unblinking eyes. One cocked it's head to the side while the other took a cautious step towards him, all the while they both kept clacking their distinctive claw against the wooden patio.
"Can...uh...can I help you...?"
The first Kobold, the one that had stepped closer, chirped in response; or at least he assumed it was in response, he did just ask them a question after all. The second, still locked in place, just licked its eye and continued to stare.
They didn't appear to be armed but, judging from the tattered cloths they both wore, even Fluff could reason that whatever den they came from was advanced enough for it to still be a possibility. What was strange, however, was the abundance of trinkets and charms adorning them; not because they had them, (Kobolds are particularly loot obsessed after all) but because they were all made from bones. Though Fluff didn't give it much thought after that, seemed to him like this wasn't going anywhere.
"Alright, buddy ol' pals, time for y'all to shoo-" he said, nonchalantly waving his arm as if sweeping them away, but recoiled when they both hissed in response. He stepped towards them, his waving now more deliberate, "-go on! Git!"
The Kobolds did indeed git, but not without their hissing protestations.
With the back door closed behind him, Fluff dusted his arms once more as he returned to the patiently waiting rolls of dough. Step 2 was- he paused and turned around, waiting for something to happen, before turning back satisfied when nothing did -to put the rolls in the oven.
Bread Puddin' Bowls was a simple enough dessert to make. Technically it was two different recipes mixed together for no other reason than their snug fit. The first was to make normal bread bowls, large ones, about the size of a full loaf, baked 'til just about done and allowed to cool before cutting the top off and scooping out the innards; the second was to chop the harvested bread, toast it, (the recipe calls for the bread to be stale but he was up against a wee bit of a ticking clock) and then make Bread Pudding for filling up the aforementioned bread bowls.
It was a delightfully uneventful and uninterrupted time between baking the bread, smelling the bread, taking out the bread, scooping the bread, chopping the bread, as well as toasting the bread. At this pace the surprise would absolutely be fresh out the oven by the time Coffee and the others had returned. All he needed to do now was to gather the ingredients for the puddi-
Scratch
"Oh, bother-" he sighed, already making his way to the backdoor, those Kobolds must've smelled the bread baking.
Only he didn't see the Kobolds outside, in fact, there wasn't much of anything or anyone outside except for what was supposed to be outside. He stepped out further, lest he be duped by the Kobolds hiding in any blind-spots near the door. Nothing. Alright then, back to the kitchen.
"Hhhh, okay, now where was I-"
He froze after closing the door and turning around, staring back at him were the Kobolds, now in the kitchen, and considerably less tense, less on-guard, and more ...chill? As if they now owned the place or something. With a heavy sigh, Fluff, now resigning himself to the situation, just returned to gathering ingredients.
They weren't nearly as disruptive as he first expected, what he thought would be an hour of fidgeting and shooing away turned out to be just a normal day of baking. Only now with two Kobolds just curiously wandering around the kitchen, inspecting the infrastructure, the implements, the instruments, the ingredients, and the bread. Though there were certainly moments, especially when they realized Fluff was quite literally edible, that required a stern warning.
The Bread Puddin' was by far the easiest bit of the process, just dumping all the ingredients into a bowl and mixing, as he would put it; in went the butter, eggs, irresponsible amounts of sugar and cinnamon and vanilla, and milk-
One of the Kobolds perked up at the sight of Fluff pouring the milk in, immediately scurrying to his side and reaching up with grabby hands. Now this was strange, even to Fluff, as far as he knew any and all reptiles of the sort had absolutely no need nor want for it...except for this one evidently.
"Uhm....alright then, lad." he muttered as he handed the little bit he had yet to pour in.
It inspected the milk, bringing the container to its companion to do the same, as if it was trying to confirm what it actually was. To Fluff's surprise and further confusion it even gagged (read: like a cat or something) as it took a whiff of the stuff, and now they were both smelling the air, no doubt searching for more. Honestly the whole situation was making him rather nervous and debating if he should shoo them off right about now.
His final verdict was decided however, when one of them, after the other evidently found the icebox, rushed back over to open the door and call out to something; the piercing, repetitive swirl of shrieking and barking continuously bashing into his head the overwhelmingly anxious feeling of "Okay I might've fucked up".
"A-alright...alright! Time for y'all t'leave!"
He made a move towards the Kobold by the door, but backed away with a flinch as it snapped at him. Fluff was by no means the fluffiest roll of the dozen (Smart), but he could certainly recognize through context clues such as the little guy's violent hissing, bared teeth, tense posture, as well as the knife it was now holding...that he might've been tricked. Fooled. Had, even. Duped, if you will. This was bad. The Kobolds played the long game and now he wouldn't even be able to finish the Bread Puddin'-
Ding!
With the sudden ringing of the bell above the front door, as well as the relieving, damn near angelic sound of Shen's "Hey Fluff we're back. Everything alrig- what the hell is that-", and of course the heavy footsteps rushing towards the kitchen door, Fluff let out a barely stifled "...oh thank god" with his hand held tenderly over his chest.
Shen rushed to his side, a protective arm held up and shielding him from the snapping Kobold, and the duo immediately got to work yelling threats. Just a big cacophony of "Scrams", "Gits", and "Skedaddles".
"Where're the others? There's always a pack." Shen half-yelled, a stern but reassuring edge to his voice.
Fluff immediately turned to the pantry, only to be met with the other Kobold lunging directly for his face, or at least it would've been had Shen not immediately caught and fanangled it into a headlock.
"Alright, out with you!" He said as he unceremoniously tossed it out the door.
From the window Fluff could see the group recollecting themselves...a group, four of them, with the two previously unaccounted for with large sacks from which he could no doubt hear the...clinking of glass bottles?
"You alright? Nothing broken?" he said that last bit with a smile creeping up his face and a teasing smack, or perhaps a wallop, upon Fluff's shoulder.
A wholesome laugh followed between them as Fluff resumed his Bread Puddin' and Shen began to make his rounds in the now disheveled kitchen. It hadn't been five minutes before Fluff heard a hearty laugh bellowing out of the pantry.
"I gotta say, getting robbed by Kobolds is a new one for you."
"I-in my defense I was tricked!"
"Fooled?"
"Had, even!"
"Duped, if you will?"
"...Yes that would be correct."
They shared a laugh once more, at least until Shen, holding an empty crate, walked out of the pantry a tad more confused than when he walked in.
"The hell do Kobolds need milk for?"
They both shrugged off the thought, after all, surely nothing would come of this.
