Comfyvember 9
Story: superhero siblings (original) Prompts: Scars — Passing smile — Baking cookies
“Who keeps cookbooks in their library?” Rebecca asked, wrinkling her nose as she flipped through the ancient Betty Crocker cookbook.
“Dr. Kartal, apparently,” Jack said, and the kitchen rang with their laughter.
“He probably just gets his recipes off the internet or something,” Sophie pointed out, wiggling her fingers at Rebecca until she handed over the cookbook. She found the tab for desserts, and flipped to that section of the thick book. “Now, what kind of cookies should we make?”
“Chocolate chip?” Jack suggested.
“Sprinkles!” Grace piped up.
“Peanut butter,” Rebecca said confidently.
“Maybe we should just go with sugar cookies,” Sophie said, biting her lip. “We don't know what kind he likes....”
“Isn't it the thought that counts?” Jack said. “I think he'll be happy no matter what we make for him.”
Rebecca scrunched up her nose again. “Yeah, but you know how awful it is to get a Christmas present you can't even enjoy? Like, what if he doesn't like chocolate or he's allergic to peanuts or something?”
Sophie turned another page in the cookbook and smiled for a moment before turning it around to show her siblings. “How about this one? Sugar cookies, but you can make paint with egg yolks and food coloring. Everybody likes sugar cookies!”
Watching her smile spread to all three of her siblings, Sophie sent them all off to scour the big old kitchen for everything they needed. They'd all helped Dr. Kartal cook on multiple occasions, but he wasn't big on baking, so it took some exploration to find things like baking powder and cookie sheets.
They never did manage to find any kind of mixer, but when Sophie fretted over how much more work it would be to mix it by hand, Grace just said, “You know me better than that!” Standing on a chair at the counter in the middle of the room, she grasped the big bowl with one arm while her other arm moved so fast it was just a blur, mixing together all the ingredients they measured out. In just a few minutes, the batter was smoother than they probably would have managed to achieve even with an electric mixer, though Grace was trembling all over by the end and had to sit at the table with a cup of apple juice and a plate of bread and butter to replenish her energy.
Next they had to roll out the dough and cut out a bunch of festive shapes. Though Rebecca spent the entire time they were mixing the dough scouring the kitchen for cookie cutters, she couldn't find any. At first, they thought they might have to just use the rim of a glass to cut circles or something.
“That's boring!” Rebecca scowled. “I wanted to make Christmas trees and stuff!”
Jack paused in the process of rolling out the dough. “Hey...Sophie, why don't you do it?”
Sophie looked up from the cookbook, where she was looking over the portion of the recipe that explained how to make the paint. “What do you mean?”
“You know, like....” Jack peeled off a bit of the dough in a lopsided triangular shape. “But better, obviously. And we wouldn't even waste any of the dough, because you could make them whatever shape and size we want!”
“Well...okay,” she said doubtfully. “But I have to do it sitting down, you know, or I'll fall over when I'm done. And I can't see the counter when I'm sitting down.”
“Then we'll do it on the table,” Jack said, unperturbed. “C'mon, Rebecca, put some flour down.”
“Wait!” Sophie said before Rebecca could dip her hand into the flour jar. “Make sure you wipe the table off first and then dry it.”
“Yes, Mom,” her siblings chorused.
In just a few minutes, the table was clean, and Rebecca dusted it with a thin layer of flour before Jack placed the mass of dough onto it and carefully rolled it out again. Then the others gathered around eagerly to watch. Sophie felt a little hot around the collar and wished for a moment that they would all turn away and pay no attention to her. In recent weeks, she'd only used her powers for big things. Rough things. Knocking things over or throwing things at their pursuers. It had been a long time since she'd done much precision work.
So she began with something simple: a star. Focusing on the dough in front of her, she envisioned a star shape in the middle, then reached out with her mind and sliced apart the dough, pulling apart the bits of dough as cleanly as if she wielded a knife. Slowly but surely, the star shape lifted out of the dough and then sailed across to the cookie pan Jack held at the ready.
Rebecca and Grace clapped appreciatively, and Sophie blushed a little, but she couldn't suppress her satisfied grin. She could already feel the immobility tugging at her limbs, pulling everything from the neck down back into the chair. But she was perfectly situated to see the tabletop, so she kept going even though she knew it probably meant she'd be sitting here in the kitchen for a long time.
As she proceeded, she went for more and more intricate shapes with the dough. Not just the Christmas trees Rebecca wanted, but also gingerbread men (well, they weren't gingerbread), stockings, candy canes, presents with bows, even a series of Santa Claus in his sleigh with all his reindeer. With the last bits and pieces of dough, Sophie used her mind to squish together letters that spelled out THANK YOU DR KARTAL.
Each new design earned the cheers and applause of her siblings. As each cookie sheet grew full with Sophie's designs, Rebecca and Grace worked to paint them with the egg-yolk glaze they put together, and then Jack whisked the sheet off to the oven and watched the timer carefully.
The old, drafty kitchen was soon full of warmth, laughter, chatter, and the delectable smells of baking cookies. When Dr. Kartal opened the front door that evening and heard the happy hubbub in the kitchen, he paused in the entryway and smiled to himself. His strange little family, his children who had come to him bearing scars that could be felt but not seen, were really acting like children for once. And that was the best Christmas present he ever could have wished for.