Home [Not So] Alone - Closed Tag

[Jackie Vick]

Jackie nodded at Moe's assurance and smiled. "Mkay,"

"Japanese...you're Japanese? Wow, I've never made a friend who was from another country far away. The best I have is Lisa Henney from Vegas." She giggled, knowing that wasn't the best example. She blushed slightly when Moe said she was smart. She knew she wasn't but it was nice to hear that someone thought she was. "Thank you. I'll try to get it as fast as possible." She said with determination.

Jackie poured the flour into a big measuring cup before transferring it into the sifter, readying a bowl so she could sift over it. The little girl turned to Moe and smiled. "Maybe next time you come over...if you can that is...you could teach me how to make some of your local dishes? Or I could make daddy stay and you could teach him how to make it." She giggled before pushing the bowl of sifted flour towards Moe.

"That sounds great. Daddy won't be home til late I think." Jackie, too, was sure that her dad would appreciate the cooked food. So would Elliot, she thought. "Oh yay!" She grinned widely. "That would definitely be fun. I've never made my own meatballs." She watched, fascinated by Moe's fluid movements.

She almost didn't realise Moe had finished until she heard the word mixer. "Wh...oh yes," she giggled in embarrassment before switching on the mixer. "We should put in the butter and sugar first right?" She asked, grabbing the bowl of sugar and sticks of butter. "Oh! I almost forgot!" Jackie sprung away from Moe and switched on the oven and preheated it to the desired temperature before practically floating to Moe's side once more.

[Misato Hazukashi]

Moe giggled to himself as Jackie babbled about him being from so far away. He'd kind of forgotten that to Americans, Japan was probably exotic and unusual. "Maybe when you're a bit older you can travel, that way you'll have lots of friends all over the world!" He encouraged the girl, moving to wash his hands under the sink. "And don't worry if you don't get it at first, there's three alphabets and it's kind of difficult."

At the idea of teaching Jackie how to roll sushi and make the right cuts for sashimi, along with the noodles and soups, Moe tapped lip in thought. It wasn't so difficult if he made it fun, right? "Sure." He said brightly, looking over at Jackie and giving her a little squeeze. "We'll try sushi first, it's great for packed lunches, because you can put it in bentos and make cute shapes with little cutters. I'll bring over my bento kit next time I babysit." He smiled, adding the vanilla essence as the book requested.

"Sometimes my boyfriend is out with his friends late and he eats looooads." Moe chatted happily, measuring out the butter and sugar to be creamed together. "One time I made him chicken wings, mashed potatoes and loads of veggies and he was still hungry. I ended up cooking nearly EVERYTHING in the fridge." The boy exclaimed, shaking his head. "He's got an endless stomach."

Jackie seemed to know exactly what to do around the kitchen, so Moe let her take over the rest of the wet mixing, instead grabbing the strawberries and cutting them up, dropping most in the blender and leaving a few for decoration later. "It says in the book that once the batter is ready we need to separate it into two different batches and add the blended strawberries to one." He read out calmly, putting his hand on top of the blender as it whizzed around.

"Then we can swirl the batter in the cupcake cases together. So we'll have swirly pink patterns in the cakey bit." The brunette giggled, then tilted his head. "What sort of frosting do you want on the cupcakes? Vanilla? Strawberry? Or both? Something different?"

[Jackie Vick]

"That'd be so cool!" Jackie enthused, bouncing on the spot. "I'm really bad at words but if you're willing to teach me, I'm willing to learn." She smiled, a little shyly. She hadn't been so eager to learn anything prior to this so she was a little surprised with herself. Somehow, having a girl dressed up as Belle from Beauty and the Beast just made learning that much more entertaining.

Jackie's eyes widened at the idea of making sushi. But... "Bento? What's bento?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in question. The idea of making cute shapes didn't actually interest the girl, not one to actually care for cute, but the idea of making something she hadn't made before had her grinning from ear to ear.

"Heh! Elliot is like that too. Daddy makes big portions of food and they never go to waste because of Elliot." The girl leaned against the counter as her babysitter did her magic. Moe's instructions brought Jackie into action and she continued to listen for further instructions from the older girl.

"Ohh, we should try making buttercream frosting. Every time I try making it, it will fall flat. Do you know how to make buttercream frosting?" Jackie inquired innocently, looking up at Moe with wide eyes.

They went about doing what they had to and Jackie hummed softly to a lullaby her mother used to sing. "Daddy would be so pleased with this." She giggled softly.

[OOC: Shall we skip the baking part and the cooking part and have them resting until cupcakes are baaaaked ^^?]

[Misato Hazukashi]

Moe made a mental note to bring over some of the books he'd had when he was a tiny little boy to give to Jackie to get used to the Japanese language. "It's fine! Even for me when I was little I found it hard." He said simply, setting down the recipe book close to them so they could read it easier.

"Ah... bento is like a lunchbox." Moe tried to explain, gesturing with his hands. "It has lots of little sections, and all stacks together. So you could have a compartment just for savoury food, so little chicken pieces and rice, or noodles. Then one for veggies and fruit, and another for dessert! I'll show you some pictures of nice bentos when I next babysit." He promised, keeping a mental note of all the little bits and pieces he'd need to bring over next time. Moe never, ever broke a promise if he could help it.

When Jackie asked about buttercream, Moe nodded and smiled. "Yeah, you have to whip it with a whisk on a reaaally high speed and combine the sugar really slowly." He explained, nodding his head. "I used to make it with the wrong sugar so it was all crusty." He blushed, a little embarrassed.

---

A few hours later, and with a set of cupcakes finished, and pasta perfectly made and ready to cook, Moe flopped on the sofa with a little sigh of relief, opening his arms to give Jackie a little cuddle. He was used to cooking but making so much food in a small space of time had tired the little brunette out.

"Shall we watch a movie, Jackie?" He asked cheerily, looking over to the little girl curiously.

[Jackie Vick]

Moe's reassurances satisfied Jackie that she would do fine. She could be slow but Moe just gave her a burst of confidence that she could go through it. What an amazing babysitter Moe was. "Okay. If you think I can, I'll definitely try my best."

"A lunchbox, I see. So there's a first word I know in Japanese." She grinned, repeating the word over and over as she listened to Moe list out the qualities of a bento. "That would be super. Thank you Moe." Jackie wrapped an arm around Moe's waist and clung for awhile. She was getting attached to her babysitter already. She just hoped Moe didn't mind.

"Oh so that's why I got it wrong. I just dumped all the sugar into the bowl." Jackie giggled, hiding her face in her hands in embarrassment.

---

Jackie happily climbed into Moe's arms for a cuddle, not finding it weird at all that Moe felt flat around the chest. All she cared about was that someone was willing to hold her still. Jackie knew she was a big girl and she needed to act like one already but for now, cuddles. They were important.

"Yes please! Can we watch Beauty and the Beast? I've got the collector's edition and the colours are so bright on it." Jackie exclaimed, dashing over to the drawer under the TV where all the DVDs were stashed according to genre. She found her collection pretty quickly and ran through all the titles until Beauty and the Beast caught her eye and she picked it out and popped it into the DVD player. She jumped back on the couch and snuggled deep in Moe's arm.

She was getting a little sleepy but her mouth was mumbling the lines to the first scene with the witch and the prince.

[Misato Hazukashi]

Moe laughed softly at Jackie's affection. Despite being from a country where hugs weren't common, being around so many lovely tactile people in the USA had changed his view entirely. Hugs were wonderful, and gaining affection from such a sweet little girl already was wonderful.

When Jackie suggested Beauty and the Beast, Moe clapped his tiny little hands in delight. "Yes! I love that film very much." He admitted, stroking through Jackie's hair soothingly. Gosh all this babysitting was making him impossibly broody. Maybe when he and Vin were married they could adopt a couple of little babies and Moe could be ever the mummy, baking and telling stories. "The collectors edition? Back at home I have an old video of it, but it's in Japanese." He smiled.

Holding Jackie tightly as she returned back into his arms, Moe silently watched the beginning of the film, propping his head up with one arm. "Then after that we'll run you a bath while I finish up dinner." He assured her, checking the time, then serenely watching the film. He did ping off a text to Vin to let him know everything was going okay so far. He didn't want him showing up in fear that his boyfriend would generally be a pain.

Vincent plus anything that involved maternal instinct would generally end in fire and extreme nudity. He didn't want this adorable little Jackie being subjected to that.

[Jackie Vick]

"I do have an old one but it got spoilt over the years. I think I might have watched too much of it." Jackie giggled softly. Not knowing how broody Moe was feeling, Jackie continued cuddling her Japanese babysitter tightly as the movie continued.

She was half asleep when Moe suggested a bath and dinner. Jackie nodded sleepily and snuggled into the crevice of Moe's arm. It was by the time when Belle entered the castle that Jackie had fallen asleep.

Bath and dinner momentarily forgotten, Moe brought the little girl up to her room and let her sleep. As Jackie buried her face into the pillows, she smiled and thought briefly that today had been one of the best days of her life.

[OOC: Fluffy ending to a fluffy thread ^^]