Everyone sure liked to bring up mothers, but when Kalos did, it just made them sad. She wasn't particularly sad not to have a mother. So far, having one or not had never changed her situation. She knew better than to bring it up and make one of her heroes sad, so she did not.

Kalos mixed her wet ingredients together in just the same exact way that Jorge did. The lifting of the wet bowl was trickier since it was much heavier, but Kalos didn't spill. She did slop more of the wet into the dry than Jorge did and she kicked herself for that, but she was only one coral. She would do better the next time she made a cake. For now, it was fun to mix the two bowls together. The introduction of the wet things to the dry brought out aromas that were hidden previously, especially the sweetness that could make Kalos' mouth make too much water.

"Why do people not eat wet cake?" She put the rest of the liquid ingredients in and slid the dirty bowl toward the sink just as Jorge did. She was even happier to see that her wet cake was just the same as hero Jorge's. In color and in smell, they looked identical. That was good. A growing panic was gnawing at Kalos ever since she'd lost count on how many times hero Jorge had stirred his wet cake. She leaned in to smell it and shivered with delight. "It smells like the thing in the cups with the peel away lid. Putting. We had some one day at lunch."

Kalos was doing remarkably well with her cake. It was to the point that he was actually a little worried about whether or not she should have actually taught her this. If she mastered it, then there was the distinct possibility that one day the staff would just find a little pink ball with a chocolate-stained mouth that used to be a slim, coral-covered mutant. As adorable as the image was, Jorge knew that Kalos was going to have to learn restraint. He would help her as much as he could, but he wasn’t her parent, come to think of it, she admitted that she didn’t have parents anymore. So, maybe here she would find many of them.

Letting the thought slide, Jorge turned back to mixing together the ingredients in his bowl, watching as Kalos matched him. She was doing very well, though she seemed a little concerned with how much of the wet ingredients she poured in. He didn’t need to tell her that he gave her exact measurements as he was certain her cake would still be quite edible.

>>"Why do people not eat wet cake?"

She sniffed and salivated over the creamy concoction that she was creating. At her question about “wet cake” though, he had to grin. Admittedly, it did look extremely tempting but under-cooked food was rarely a good thing.

”Well that depends. There are kinds of wet cake. Bread Pudding, Strawberry Wet Cake...but my favorites is Tres Leches. Very yummy.” He smiled. ”But, all kinds of cakes, even wet ones, require some baking. Having too many raw ingredients, like the eggs that we put in, can make you sick.” He didn’t want to scare her so he quickly added. ”So when we bake them, it cooks the raw things and makes them safe to eat.”

He gave her a charming smile as he explained this side of the baking process. He was certain that she wanted to get down into consuming her creation, but her self-control was actually quite impressive. Besides, it looked as if she truly wanted to learn so that she could do this by herself, without the need of an adult to do it for her. She was a self-sufficient little thing and Jorge could respect that; he just hoped that she learned that she could trust them for help too.

>>"It smells like the thing in the cups with the peel away lid. Putting. We had some one day at lunch."

He nodded. ”It does. That’s the ‘chocolate’ that you’re smelling,” he said with a nod. ”But this is different. That chocolate you can eat wet. This one needs to bake.”

Once the batter was completed, Jorge dusted off his hands as he reached for a couple of cake tins. He brought down two regular sized ones for himself and two smaller ones for her. With both down, he pulled over a some butter, cut off a square and showed her how to pick it up. With it in hand, she ran it along the inside of the cake tin to ensure that the cake will not stick when baked. Once she completed that, Jorge then pulled over a bag of confectioner’s sugar scooped some into a strainer, and started to tap it gentle so that it snowed onto his cake tin. With his out the way, he offered her the strainer.

”You want to try?” he smiled.

Kalos decided that she would try any cake, but the Tres Leches one sounded especially wet for some reason. Some words just made pictures pop into her head whether that was a realistic guess or not. Or maybe it was because it was a hero Jorge favorite and hero Jorge was supposed to be a hero of the ocean.

"Maybe Tres Leches is be my favorite too. I will need to be trying all of these things to be sure." Noooo. That wasn't a ploy to get more cake. Not. At. All.

It was very good of hero Jorge to explain to her about the dangers of eating uncooked cake. From other adults, she might not have taken their advice, but hero Jorge had already saved her from the gross chocolate. And, like the chocolate she'd grabbed, she had been thinking to try to make her own cake later when he wasn't looking. And perhaps even eating some spoonfuls. Just to try it. Now she knew better. She did not have to get sick because of uncooked cake.

And, of course, they couldn't put the wet cake into the oven as it was. It needed to go into a different shape of pan. And they had to prepare that pan by touching yucky, smooshy, yummy smelling, but texturally gross butter. "This cow cheese is food for barbarians." Also it was sticking terribly to her porous coral fingertips. Kalos shook her hand to get it off and sent a fingertip spinning across the countertop with the butter still attached. She tried to ignore it as best as she could. Maybe hero Jorge wouldn't notice... he had been busy getting a metal sieve ready with white in it.

Heavenly white powder that smelled like the single most cake-like smell from something that wasn't cake.

> ”You want to try?”

"It has sweet smells." The coral girl accepted the metal sieve with one hand (and one exposed tentacle) hidden behind her back, but then she had nothing to tap the metal against to make it rain sweet, white powder. She tried just sort of shaking it, but the result was not ideal.

>>"Maybe Tres Leches is be my favorite too. I will need to be trying all of these things to be sure."

Jorge chuckled. He wasn’t going to argue with Kalos’ logic, even if there was truth in it. She was new to this kind of living, to this world, and she needed to figure out exactly what she liked and didn’t like about it. It would be a long process, longer than any one lifetime could provide, but she was young enough to develop a good idea of who she was and what kind of life she would lead, filled with the things that she knew she truly enjoyed and loved. It was heartwarming to know that, actually, that she was on her way to discovery -- a gift that was so easily forgotten by those more advanced in age.

Jorge pushed past his thoughts, instead focusing only on the cakes that were being made. Everything was mixed together and now just needed to be poured into prepared pans. As Jorge prepared his, he instructed Kalos on how to butter the sides of it so that it could more easily allow the cake to slide in and out with ease. However, she seemed to get a sour look on her face when she tried to work with butter.

>> "This cow cheese is food for barbarians."

He smirked a little. He finished buttering the sides of his pan, not noticing the small piece of the coral-covered mutant that went flying off of her fingertip, weighed down by butter. When he did glance over, she seemed to get most of her buttering done, at least enough that should be passable for a first cake. He gave her an nod.

”That butter can be difficult to work with but you get the hang of it,” he smiled warmly. ”Plus, it makes sure that the cake is nice and fluffy.”

When Jorge turned and started to tap the baker’s sugar onto his pan, he couldn’t help but notice the undivided attention that Kalos showed this next step in the process. Of course it would be the sugar. He just smirked as he tapped it around, making sure he had good coverage of the pan before he offered the sifter to her to try.

>>"It has sweet smells."

He nodded with an encouraging look. ”That’s powdered sugar. It is what makes our cakes, including the chocolate you tried to eat, sweet.” He watched as she tried to just shake the sifter but little of the powder was falling. ”Just give it a gentle tap with your other hand, honey. You need the tap so the sugar will fall out.”

She had to tap it with her hand. Hero Jorge said so.

Timidly she pulled out her hand from behind her back where she'd been hiding it. It was normal looking except for the very tip of one finger. Instead of being hardened, whitish coral, her index finger had what looked like a blue tentacle topped with a white pad. She had learned from some of the other kids that even landys were not used to seeing fingers that were not fingers, to say nothing of toes that were not toe-looking toes.

"I lost a finger." She was loathe to admit it, but there it was. At his reaction she was quick to point out that it had not gone into her wet cake. "It's just over there. It got stuck." Silly barbarian food.

Kalos decided to just move on and tap the side of the sugar as hero Jorge had indicated. It worked much better, she had to admit. He really knew how all this stuff worked. And she wasn't touching it directly with her fingers anyway. It was still good, right?

"Can I eat this white?" What had he called it? "This powdered sugar?"

Jorge was careful with teaching young Kalos how to bake a cake. While he was sure that he was opening a can of worms with this (he imagined how many times after this that staff here at the mansion would find her down in the kitchen, trying replicate her creation today), he wanted her to learn properly. He was gentle with her, not wanting to make her think she was making any terrible mistakes lest he make her no longer want to learn with him, and instead spoke to her gently and with a smile. So far it seemed to be working fine, that is until he found that she wasn’t distributing the sugar properly.

He offered her a small correction, that it would be better for her to tap the side of the sifter with her free hand as to better distribute the sugar, rather than just shaking it like a maraca. Kalos seemed a little timid about something but Jorge was still all gentle smiles and caring...that is until she showed him what the problem was.

>>"I lost a finger...It's just over there. It got stuck."

He blinked. ”Oh my…” He didn’t appeared affronted by the sight, or disturbed, more concerned than anything else. However Kalos didn’t seem hurt or in pain from the experience, instead she merely pointed out where her wayward digit had run off to. With a smile, he gave her a small, comforting pat on her shoulder. ”...are you okay? I’ll get it.”

He stepped away from her in that instant to reach the broken digit with the glob of offending butter slathered onto it. Picking it up carefully he, he noted the rough texture of it. Carrying it to the sink, he gently wiped off the excess butter and did his best to pat it dry before returning to the young Atlantean’s side. He handed the coral back to her.

”Here you go, honey.” he smiled and waited for her to take it.

When she did, he turned back to the cakes that they were preparing, picking up his own mixed batter and started to pour it into the prepared pan. As she scooped the remaining batter into it, scraping it from the edges of the bowl, he turned to Kalos as she inspected the sugar closely.

>>"Can I eat this white? This powdered sugar?"

”Um...yes, but only very, very little,” he said. ”Just put a little on your fingertip, ok? It’s pretty sweet.”

He hurried and fetched her dirtied fingertip. Kalos wasn't sure how to feel about that. She had been more than ready to pretend like nothing was wrong.

"I can grow another." She ventured her statement, but he seemed content to wash and dry and return the digit. Kalos looked at his face, but saw neither revulsion or apprehension. She was careful to pluck the fingertip out of his hand without touching him. She moved slowly and watched him for any indication of tricks he might pull.

"It takes time for them to stop being scratchy, but they are always like rock." Kalos positioned the fingertip and the little blue tentacle fit itself inside. She pushed it down until the grinding between finger parts could be heard. There. It was on and she was going to make sure it stayed on. After splaying her fingers and checking that the blue was all hidden except for in the joints where the coral had ground down too much, she nodded in satisfaction.

"You are very brave, hero Jorge. Nobody else who sees under the covers of my fingers likes them."

And her reward, it seemed, was that she got to taste a tiny bit of this powdered sugar. The white that made the chocolate not bad. She pinched a little between two hard fingers and had to tap them together to get it to sprinkle into her mouth like it sprinkled into the pan.

Oh. That was good.

"Only a little...?" Her mouth watered for more. Mmmm.

Kalos didn’t look in pain from losing the digit, but rather just a little annoyed; and that annoyance, humorously enough, was aimed at the butter more than anything. Jorge didn’t comment, though, as he instead focused on collecting the little digit and cleaning off the stick butter from it. As he did so, Kalos passed it off as just something that happened all the time, nothing that required any special attention of hers. But as the young student spoke, Jorge acted with utmost care for the little digit.

Upon returning to the Atlantean’s side, Jorge offered her the coral cap, watching as she snapped it back into place with a little scraping sound filling the air. He smirked a little, not in mocking, but in impressiveness towards the young woman. She really was the sweetest thing, it was just a shame that she had suffered so much trauma as the result of a backwards society. Once he was sure that she was okay, he turned back to prepping the cake.

>>"You are very brave, hero Jorge. Nobody else who sees under the covers of my fingers likes them."

He was sure that something like that would take getting used to. He hoped that whomever Kalos spoke of were not being intentionally cruel to her. After all, she was a mutant who couldn’t help her circumstances, lord knows the mansion had plenty of them. When Agnes was here, her gift of swallowing insects and having them live inside her was just as interesting, and she found a life for herself, friends, even a love interest. Surely Kalos can carve out her own niche.

”It’s different…” he finally commented about the tentacles under her coral. He turned and gave her a soft smile. ”...but that is a part of who you are and nothing to be embarrassed by. People will either accept you for how amazing you are...or…” a soft shrug. ”...they’re not worth your attention, sweetie. Surround yourself with people who do care. That’s how you find happiness in this world.”

With the powdered sugar spread evenly among the pan, Jorge watched as Kalos inspected the white powder. Oh she was so tempted to take a sample of it. He did tell her she could try a small bit, just enough for her taste it. However, the look that came over her blue eyes immediately hinted that a taste would not be enough. Jorge almost felt a little bad for agreeing to it because he knew the question that would inevitably follow.

>>"Only a little...?"

He nodded. ”Only a little,” he reiterated. ”Trust me, the cake will be sweet enough. If you have too much sugar now, you could make yourself sick and then you won’t be able to have any of your amazing cake. Wouldn’t want that, right?” Gratification now or later? It was a hard lesson for anyone to learn. Once the batter for his own cake was added to the pan, he turned to her. ”Now just pour the batter into the pan and we can put these in the oven. Do you need help?” She was capable, but it would have been quite unheroic to not at least offer.

> "...People will either accept you for how amazing you are...or…"

He thought she was amazing? Kalos flushed and rocked back and forth on her stony feet. Yeah... maybe she kinda was...

"Mayyyyyybe I am good cake maker." She could make cakes forever, right? Everyone liked cake. "Because of good teacher." She was hasty to amend a compliment. Demigods loved compliments.

Just as gorgons hated to be told what to do, but in the end she would do it.

"Okay." Kalos tried to memorize what the bag for the white sugar powder looked like. She could come downstairs at night and grab some later if she really wanted. But for now, as instructed, she set the sugar powder away. He was right, of course. She was about to have cake.

From there they scooped their wet cake into the prepared pans. That was surprisingly difficult since she had to lift a slippery bowl that turned out to be heavy. Were cakes this heavy when they were done!? And using her other hand with a spatula with really a lot of coordination. Every time she scooped, the bowl moved so not every single drop of wet cake got into the right pan, but most of it did!

"Is it okay? Does all need to go in the pan?" Her hands were practically useless for cleaning up the bits that had gone over. Kalos grunted and shifted the bowl, mostly empty now, back onto the countertop. This didn't seem perfect enough...

Kalos had a whole future ahead of her, but what she would do with it would be her own choice. Jorge was certain that she was a good person, one who would make it in this world despite all the rapid changes that suddenly washed over her. She was smart enough to make her own way in the world, she just needed some guidance at the moment. Jorge, hopefully, would be able to provide her with some of that.

>>"Mayyyyyybe I am good cake maker….Because of good teacher."

The old officer smirked giving her a cheery smile. Again, she really was extremely sweet and knowing that she suffered in the manner that she did only made the man all the more angier at the Atlanteans. Truly he hoped that they were changing their ways because none should go through what Kalos did.

Funny enough, maybe that would be the future for the young Atlantean. She was following his instructions fairly well, enough so that maybe this was the beginning for her. He imagined a little cake shop in town, run by the coral-covered girl and it made him smile. Even if that wasn’t the path that she eventually undertook, he did hope that whatever it was, it would make her happy.

”Maybe,” he finally said. ”Because you are an excellent student.”

They needed to get back to business, though. Jorge turned his attention to filling in the cake pans with the batter that he prepared. In doing so he showed Kalos how to carefully pour the mixture into the pans, scooping it out with the spatula until all of it was actually in the pan. While it didn’t need every single drop of it, he did show her how to retrieve most of the concoction.

>>"Okay."

When it was her turn, Jorge watched her as she tried to balance between turning over the mixing bowl, as well as encouraging the last droplets of batter out. She struggled a bit, a sight that immediately made the detective want to step over and help, but he needed to let her explore this on her own. He offered his assistance though, but soon it seemed as if it wasn’t necessary as she managed to get the batter in the pan -- well, most of it.
>>"Is it okay? Does all need to go in the pan?"

He nodded his head. ”Perfect.” He then eyed the splattered about batter and what also remained in the bowl. ”You don’t need to get all of it, but you got most of it and that’s good.” Picking up cake pans, Jorge showed Kalos how to gently tap it against the countertop as to cause any trapped air at the bottom to bubble to the surface. When all looked still and ready, he gave her a grin. ”Now we just put these in the oven. This time I will put yours in, okay? The oven is a little hot and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He picked up his pans and maneuvered over to oven that was already giving off a lot of heat. As he pulled down the lid, Jorge knelt down and carefully put in both his pans and kalos little pan. Once everything was in, he stood up and closed the lid, giving her a grin.

”Now is the fun part. We get to make the frosting while our cakes bake.”

Excellent student? Perfect? She could really get used to praise like that.

"My hands are very hard." She moved carefully to get down from the chair and trailed a few paced behind hero Jorge as he made his way to the oven. "I don't think the hot would hurt my fingers." Though, it was likely an issue based in the fact that she could not easily reach into this oven with only her fingers. It would be more than fingers. It was hot all around. Touching anything on accident would be a blisteringly painful mistake.

She still would have liked to put it in herself.

Hero Jorge was right. It was a job for a hero who knew what he was doing. Excellent and perfect were only good for so much...

> ”Now is the fun part. We get to make the frosting while our cakes bake.”

"What is frosting? Will it be cold?" Kalos followed hero Jorge back to their original spots and climbed her best to get back up onto the chair.

While he was sure that Kalos’ coral fingers would not easily burn, given the fact that he had just seen one of those protective coverings go flying into the distance, exposing the undulating tentacle, it wasn’t a risk he was willing to take just yet. He would help her take the pans out of the oven once they were done (so long as she was wearing proper protection, of course), but for now they would turn to something that was far sweeter.

After the hot oven door was closed, he announced that next they would be working on frosting. Frosting was always one of the best parts of a cake, especially when it was done right. Plus there were no raw ingredients so if Kalos wanted to sample it, she certainly could.

>>"What is frosting? Will it be cold?"

He waited as she climbed onto the chair before he picked up the bowl she used to mix the batter, as well as his own, and moved down to the sink. He turned on the water, letting it fill the bowls the loosen whatever leftover gunk was there.

”Not really. They just call it that because you cover it over your cake, like ice. But it isn’t cold.” While he could easily just snap his fingers and have the water scrub away the batter from the bowls, he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. He worked at the bowls until they were clean, lifted them out, rinsed, and set them on the table. He set both bowls in front of Kalos, as well as a hand towel. ”Can you dry this for me? I’ll get the last ingredients we need.”

Jorge smiled, left Kalos in charge of drying bowls and moved over to a cabinet. Once there, he pulled open the door and started to fish out the packets of cream cheese he had set there to soften, as well as butter, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Once everything was in hand, he returned to Kalos’ side. When she was done drying the bowls, he set down the ingredients, split up between the two of them.

”Ready, co-baker?” He grinned. ”Open both these,” he pointed to the butter and the cream cheese. ”And put them in the bowl together. Then we’re going to mix them really fast with this…” He held up the electric handmixer that he now plugged into the wall. ”This will make sure the frosting is nice and fluffy. It can be a little loud but it won’t hurt you, okay?”

Frosting: like ice, but not cold. She was forming all kinds of opinions already.

He left the bowls for her to dry, but she was not insulted by his expectation that she help. He had done the washing first. This was almost an honor by comparison and she took her duty very seriously. "Yes, hero. I will make it so." It was up to her and she would not disappoint.

By the time he picked up his first ingredients, hero Jorge's bowl was dry and in place. When he returned for good, hers was dry as well and she had made an attempt to fold the now damp towel.

Was she ready? Kalos could not fathom how the things before her would be like ice. "I am ready!" She was less ready at the brandishing of a... Kalos did not have words for it. It looked like a gun that did not shoot. Her hero assured her that it would be alright, though. So it would be alright. Her eyebrows drew down and she made sure to keep that cooking weapon in her sights.

"Why does the fluffy maker go to the wall?" She got the silver package that hero Jorge indicated and opened up a rectangle of white squishy. It smelled a bit like yogurt and she held it up with a question in her eyes before emptying it into her bowl. The yellow rectangle, she had already learned was butter made from the milk of a cow and sticky for her fingers.

>>"Yes, hero. I will make it so."

He smirked and sent Kalos off to dry the bowl so that they could make their frosting. They were almost done with their little experiment and he was almost sad to see it end. Kalos really was an excellent co-chef. Eventually she would learn to do this on her own because he could see that spark to be self-sufficient glaring in her eyes. She wanted to be independent, to not rely on others. However, in this world, that was something she was going to have to get used to doing, asking for help. There was nothing wrong with that either.

When he returned, the last ingredients he needed, as well as the hand mixer he would be using, he gave the Atlantean a bright smile as he scooted next to her. He slid the ingredients towards her and reached over to plug the mixer into the wall.

>>"I am ready!"

Some technology still eluded Kalos so he wanted to break this loud piece of machinery to her carefully. It could be loud and, to someone who had never seen or heard anything like it before, he didn’t want her to get freaked out. He knew she would be okay if she had some warning to brace for it so he informed her that the mixer would be loud but not something that could cause her any harm. He honestly doubted it could considering her hard skin, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

>>"Why does the fluffy maker go to the wall?"

”Well, because like a lot of technology up here, it uses ‘electricity’ to make it work.”

He took a step back, put the mixer on its lowest and quietest setting, and pulled the trigger. The two metal mixers hummed and turned like gears, running on the electrically powered motor that lay within the chassis. Jorge didn’t hold the button down for too long and instead stopped.

”See? It’s not so bad. Just helps make things mixed and fluffier faster.” Jorge stepped closer to look down at the bowl. She placed in the cream cheese and butter. Satisfied he raised his hand to give her a high-five. ”Great job! High-five.”

He waited until Kalos raised the palm of her hand to match his and gave it a careful bump with his hand. Afterwards, he pulled the bowl closer and held the mixer above it, the metal whisks just barely touching the gooeyness. He turned an eye to Kalos and gave her an encouraging smile.

”Ready? It will be a little loud, but not by much.” He waited until his new friend gave him the okay before he pushed the button down again. The device churned and spun the mixers, which Jorge pushed into the combination of butter and cheese. Then he started to turn the bowl, mixing the ingredients very, very thoroughly.

Kalos made note of electricity. She would have to investigate these holes in the walls. Why did nothing come out when they were uncovered? Was electricity too thick to fall out? She was stretching this way and that noticing just how many holes there were when she noticed that hero Jorge had two metal box cages on sticks. The metal boxes went into the holder. He fiddled with it and it hummed to life.

It was a swift. It was louder than the crank swift she had used to wind threads and yarns, but it was definitely like two tiny swifts spinning around very close together. She thought about reaching toward it, but had her hands very firmly gripped at the edge of the top of the counter. No need to touch.

"You use this only for food?" She didn't trust it, but that was okay. Hero Jorge had it well under control. It mrrrred until he pushed something and then it was silent. "Can you make things fluffy without these swifts? How does you make it stop?" And what was a high five!?

Hero Jorge held up his hand and looked very expectant. She looked around, but no one was close enough to ask. She raised her hand with a question on her face.

And he touched his hand to her hand.

High five.

She looked at her hand. It didn't look any different. Nothing was on it, no chocolate or anything. He looked happy like it was a happy thing. Kalos was just left confused.

What kind of ritual was this? Like a handshake? But up high to show the forearms had no weapons? No one trusted her with weapons. Why could she not have weapons before they used the swifts?

> "Ready?"

"Yes, hero." A dutiful response from a dutifully learning gorgon.


And it was loud. Louder than the first time and much, much faster. The swifts were a blur and the yellow and the white were soon mangled together. He turned the bowl and they started to change from smooshy to a little bit liquidy thick. Like mold scraped off the top of soup, but cleaner looking. The longer it went, the higher her anxiety. The mixing was interesting, but the loud made her want to find something to be under incase the technology in hero Jorge's hand burnt up or exploded.

But when it was over? Kalos lifted her hand up.

"High-five?"