JOHN AND CASEY BAKE A CAKE

It had been a year now since the scratch, and John had ran out of things to do. Well, no. That's not completely true. There was plenty for him to do, but lately, he had been undergoing a terribly draining mental fatigue. He didn't want to do anything. He sat around on the battleship, watching Davesprite and Jade talk at great lengths about Gods-know-what, and the little carapacians going about their daily life as if it were their new home. The consorts were everywhere, making a great big mess of the ship, but with a flick of his wrist and a bored sigh, John could clean it up in no time. Things had gotten dull, in his mind. His birthday had long since passed and everyone was done with that crappy Ghostbusters MMO. Now, he just wanted to sleep away the days. John closed his eyes as he lay down on the deck, and began to drift asleep...

 

"OOF!" John exhaled, as something plodded on his chest. He opened his eyes to see a dark-robed Salamander looking right back at him.

 

"Oh, hello Casey!" John said, as he gave a half-smile. He wasn't much in the mood to talk with her right now. "Is it okay if you come by tomorrow? I was just about to take a nap..." he said, scooting her off. Casey looked sadly at John, and his heart sank as he looked her in the eye. Casey tugged at John's hand, and pointed to the door to the main hall. John tried to look away, but a faint little whimper caused his will to slip away. "Oh fine, fine." he surrendered, standing himself up and looking down at the Consort. "What do you want to do?"

 

Casey hopped up and down, glubbing this way and that. She tugs at his hand John emits a little chuckle, as she leads him into the ship. "So, Casey," says John, "Where exactly are we going?" Casey points to the mess-hall, and as they walk their way into the large, mostly empty room. Casey drags him over to the kitchen, and John looks around at the carapacians that are there. One was wearing a party hat, and the others were giving him presents and whatnot. John sighed. It looked like they were having a good time. It's a good thing they didn't have any...

 

"Wait, Casey, what's this on the counter?" he asks, picking up a small box. Reading the package, John enters a childish fit. Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake Mix. This cunning broad is trying to get him to eat cake! John flings the box at the floor, and roars at the heavens. Casey, completely ignorant of his anger, begins pulling out bowls from the cabinets, and places them on the table. John begins stomping around, cursing the Batter Witch, and stops short as a small hand pats his leg. Looking down, John spots a Casey with a comical, Wise-Guy set of Spectacles. John, confused, picks up Casey, who then puts it on him, instead. She procures a mirror, and glubs away as she laughs at John's now funny-looking face. John smiles earnestly, as he puts down Casey and looks at the bowls and cakemix.

 

"So you want to learn how to bake a cake, do you?" John asks, looking down at Casey. "It takes a lot of effort to get it all right, you know. In fact, my Dad spent YEARS perfecting his cake-baking..." John falters, as he remembers, back to when he was young and foolish...

 

"So, you want to learn how to bake a cake, do you?" Mr Egbert asks, looking down at his young son. "It takes a lot of effort to get it right, you know. In fact, my mother spent YEARS perfecting her cake-baking skills. She was the master, you know." His dad laughs as he picks up his son, and his son laughs with him. "Yes, it will take plenty of hardwork, but I think if we do this together..."

 

"...We'll make a great cake, Casey." John says, as he sets Casey down on the table, next to him. "First thing we're going to need to do is to gather the ingredients." he says, and with a glub of agreement, the two of them set to work.

 

The cake took a good solid hour of mess-ups and mistakes, much like John's first cake-baking. Over time, John slowly forgot about the Batterwitch grudge. He didn't mind that he was baking a gross cake. He didn't care about all the evil the batterwitch represented. He laughed and gleefully messed around with Casey, planting a few good pranks on her as the two worked on the cake. It was when they put the cake in the oven, that John got to thinking. Not about the Batterwitch. But about his dad. He smiled, thinking back to when he would play songs on the piano with him. The prank war they incited. It was crazy the kind of pranks his old man pulled. He laughed, thinking back on all the times that he really got him. He chuckled, when he thought of when he first started hating cakes, about all the pranks involved with them that his Dad pulled on him. And he smiled sadly, when he remembered how he lashed out about the cakes... And his dad's reaction. He laughed, thinking back on it all, and a few tears began streaming down his face. Casey came up to him, and tugged on his pant-leg.

 

"Oh, hey Casey." he said, the tears still streaming slowly. "What? Oh, this..." he wiped away the tears, and sniffed quietly. "Nothing to think about. My birthday was a few weeks ago, you know. I'm a man now." He laughed as Casey looked up at him, worriedly. "Don't you know...?"

 

"Men cry, John," his dad said, as he nursed John's large scrape from the pogo-ride. "And you know what, it's okay to cry." John sniffled, as he wiped the tears out of his bleary-red eyes. "You know what you get when you cry?" John shook his head. "You get a big cake." John groaned, as his Dad laughed and ruffled up his hair. "Come on, kiddo, the Cake is ready..."

 

"...Right now." John said, as he pulled out the cake. He put it on the counter, and handed Casey the icing. "It's all yours, Casey." Casey happily grasped the icing and covered the cake in a delicious chocolate mix. She splashed on many decorations of whipped topping, and shot on a Vanilla Drizzle. With a few strawberries, the cake was finished, and with a happy hop, she took the cake into the mess hall. John watched from the kitchen as the carapacians cried out in celebration, as the cake was brought to the party-hatted Dersite. John wiped his hands clean, watching Casey party with the Carapacians. "Good work, Casey." John said.

 

"I'm so, so proud of you."