Scrape's Random Book of Random 'Art'

Drawing #148 - CDC - Day 02

Elaina set the paper down on the counter, which was covered in flour dust and pawprints. She smoothed the crumpled sheet out before beginning to read from it, listing off the ingredients the two would need.
"Flour, baking powder, sugar, molasses, ginger..." The Creator listed off, Marked rushing to grab the ingredients as she spoke.
He set them down on the counter beside the list before running to grab the others, stumbling around the kitchen, the Glumshanks-doll laying on top of his head. Elaina couldn't help but chuckle at the scene, the small boy dashing around clumsily with an ecstatic grin on his face. Once all of the ingredients had been gathered, Marked skidded to a stop beside Elaina, placing his hands down on the countertop, causing a plume of flour dust to wait up into the air.
"What now?" Marked asked.
"Now, we have to mix the wet and dry ingredients." Elaina explained, grabbing a few bowls from the cupboard. "You handle wet, I'll handle dry?"
Marked nodded in agreement, taking one of the bowls before he began pouring the wet ingredients into it, standing on his tip toes to make sure he wasn't spilling them everywhere. Elaina began measuring out the dry ingredients, taking a much more methodical approach to her mixture, smiling over at Marked every so often as they worked. Once the two had finished creating the mixtures, Marked began pouring the wet into the dry, biting his tongue as he concentrated on getting the substance into the bowl. Elaina began mixing it in with the whisk she had grabbed off a nearby utensil rack.
"Ooh, watch it Marked. We don't want to spill any."
"Sorry. It's hard for me to see."
"Do you want a stepping stool?"
"I'm good. Glummy's making sure it's right."
Elaina giggled. "Well, I'm glad Glumshanks is able to do that."
Marked nodded slowly, as to not drop the doll that was still resting on his head into the bowl. "He's very helpful that way."
The two continued to talk as they worked, talking about timelines and the things that had happened since the last time the two had seen each other. It wasn't that long ago, and yet a lot seemed to have happened. It didn't seem to matter, though, since the two acted like no time had passed between them whatsoever. Marked always felt calmer around Elaina, although he had to admit he was still quite timid even when she was near. It was both his nature and an impulse since the whisp incident that had occurred a while back. He tried not to think about it, but Marked couldn't stand to be in a situation like that again. Not for himself, but for the others. All the pain and anguish they had felt was overwhelming, even just thinking back on it made Marked wince.
"You alright there, Marked?"
"Oh? Yes yes. I'm fine. Just... Thinking."
"Well, can you think and work please? I need you to grab that spatula for me."
"Right, sorry."
Marked smiled sheepishly, then reached over, grabbing the spatula and handing it to Elaina. Elaina scraped the rest of the sticky, thick liquid out of the bowl, allowing Marked to set it down before continuing to mix the substances together. By the end of it, they had formed a brown, sticky lump of dough that sat at the bottom of the bowl.

"Alright! That looks good. Now, we just need to let it chill for a few minutes and-" Elaina paused, then sighed, tapping on her earpiece. She motioned for Marked to give her a second before turning around, talking in a hushed tone to whoever was on the other end. "Lucarian, I'm a bit busy right now, I hope this is important."
Marked's expression fell for a second, but he quickly picked it back up, knowing Elaina would be off of the call soon enough. He pick up the empty bowl and walked it over to the sink, plopping it down and running water over the sticky surface, letting a small pool form at the bottom before turning the tap off and walking back to Elaina, waiting patiently for her to finish. Despite his optimistic smile, when Elaina turned back around, she had a hard time returning it.
"Marked, I'm sorry, but I have to cut this short. Someone woke up one of the ents in the arboretum from its hibernation and I need to go deal with it."
Once again, Marked's expression fell, but he tried his best time hide it. "Oh, that's fine. You have a job you need to do. I'd feel bad if I got in the way of that. Glummy and I can finish up here."
"You sure you're fine on your own?"
Marked nodded. "Like I said, Glummy and I can finish up, it's fine-" he paused, "no, shush Glumwad. No. We can talk about it later."
Elaina sighed. "It shouldn't take me that long. I'll be back in time for baking, okay?"
"Okay." Marked forced a smile. "See you then."
Elaina waved before turning, walking out of the kitchen and back into the bustling dining room. As soon as Elaina was out of sight, Marked looked to the ground, taking the doll off of his head and clutching it to his chest. Looking back to the work station, Marked couldn't help but think that everything seemed so overwhelming, all of the steps and the different processes just confused him now that he was alone. Of course, he had the Glumshanks-doll, but not even its silent reassurance helped. Marked bit his lip, sitting down on the ground in silence, clutching the doll close as he pulled his legs up against his chest, rolling into a small ball in the middle of the room. Helplessness washing over him like a torrent of stifling white snow.
"I can't do this Glummy..."
...
"No, I can't ask for help. I can't show weakness."
...
"It was fine when Elaina was here because she explained what I had to do. She offered that guidance. I need guidance."
...
"...you can't read Glummy. I appreciate you trying to help, but I don't think you can."
...
Marked breathed a sigh, sitting up and wiping the brimming tears from the corners of his eyes. "Thanks, Glummy. But I don't think I can do this. I'm just not capable. It's just like before. Without guidance, I'm nothing..."
Marked looked down at his doll, the stuffed troll staring back at him with lifeless button eyes. Somehow, though, this made Marked smile.
"You always know just what to say to make me happy, Glumshanks. You really think I can do this?"
Again, silence fell in the kitchen, the din of the dining room barely flooding through the closed doors. Marked simply sat on the floor, locked in a staring contest with the doll he held in his hands. Seconds, then minutes passed, Marked neither blinking nor moving as he listened intently to some unheard speech that was being told, oblivious to the world around him for those few minutes.
"You make a fair point. If I don't try, how will I know? This may not be as hard as I think. Besides, I have you." Marked jumped to his feet, a determined glint to his mismatched eyes. "Alright, Glumwad! I'll read, you gather what we need for stage two. We will not let Elaina down!"

With a grunt, Elaina pushed open the doors to the dining room. Twigs and leaves clung to her clothes and hair, as well as a heavy helping of snow, which had been courteously chucked at her by the ent in an attempt to get her to leave. And by her apparent disgruntled demeanor, it had worked. Elaina had too much on her plate to have to worry about a cranky, pissed off ent that should have been sleeping. When she entered the dining room, though, Elaina found herself pleasantly surprised. The room had quieted down to the typical murmurs between friends and comrads, a few inter-timeline conversations had been taken up, but for the most part everyone stuck to their own groups. Although, that was typical. The most surprising part to Elaina was the tray of cookies that rested in the middle of the table, only a few little gingerbread men remaining, along with a couple cups of hot chocolate. It seemed everyone had a cookie and a cup of cocoa, a simple snack to tie them over until dinner was ready.
"Elaina!" Marked beamed, walking up to her. "Glad you could make it. You were taking a little longer than I had thought you would, so I started baking the cookies myself. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all, Marked." Elaina smiled, brushing some of the snow off of her. "I'm actually quite happy with this outcome. You finished this all yourself?"
"Me and Glummy, yep!"
"Right. How could I forget about Glumshanks." Elaina chuckled.
"There are still some cookies left, if you want one. They might be a tad lukewarm, as well as the hot chocolate, but they should still be good."
"I'd quite like that." Elaina smiled. "Care to join me, Marked?"
"It would be my pleasure." Marked smiled happily.
The two walked back up to the head of the table, grabbing two cups and a couple cookies on the way. Once they sat down, the two resumed their conversation from before, smiling and laughing like old friends.

Drawing Weapons: Paper, fineliner and pencil - prismacolors