Crafting 1: Robin Learns Cookie Stocks

It had been awhile since Robin first became an assistant at the orphanage. Everyday was a challenge as browlets of every aspect roamed the halls. Little demons and mischievous biters the lot of them. It made him wish he had honed another aspect other than fire. Well, at least he was able to put them out as fast as a browlet was able to light one. The job was taxing but for what it was worth it felt like a nice change of pace. Robin liked a good challenge and the toddlers provided plenty of it. Robin also helped attend to seedlings but a good percent were browlets.

While the place was an orphanage it also looked after children who were just part of the raising process. Traditionally brow parents entrusted Eni to supervise their chaotic young ones until they were old enough to rejoin society. There was even a wait list for some of them. Eni had a reputation for being super loving towards the kids. It was one of those things you could feel when you met him and it showed off in his work. It was pretty infectious when you were around him. Eni mostly took in orphans but a parent would swoop in if a slot opened up.  

Robin held a broom in his hands examining his work. He was dressed in his normal work attire: a handkerchief over his head, thick bite protection gloves, a butterfly net swung over his shoulder like a sword, knee and shin pads and a sturdy plain apron. Robin nodded. The spot was pretty clean. Good enough for now. Time to check on the seedlings. Robin passed by his employer's room. 

"Is that you Robin?" he could hear the melodious call of Eni. 

Robin backtracked to Eni's office and stood in the doorway. Eni was in his corner rocking chair surrounded by a few seedlings. Eni liked to keep a few of their pots in his office for when the seedlings got fussy. "I was just about to go check on the seedling room. Did you need something?" Robin ask absent mindedly putting his hands together with his fingers weaved. 

"I think Ash might be coming by. Can you keep your eyes open for them?" Eni asked while gently bouncing a seedling.

"Of course." Robin gave a smile and left. Ash was Eni's adopted brother. He owned a bakery and constantly smelled like he took a bath in baked goods before coming over. He was rather popular with the browlets as his cookies were highly sought after by the little tooth goblins. Most likely Ash would let themself in but he always knocked or called out when he arrived. Who needed security when the browlets deterred most strangers away. 

Robin was halfway down the hall when something felt wrong. Nothing looked out of place. He paused before thinking "Quite..It was too quiet." Robin picked up his pace looking in rooms as he went. Then he smelled it, smoke. Quickly he went after the smell. It was coming from the kitchen. Robin dashed down the stairs, hoping the railing closer to the bottom. In the kitchen were several browlets crowded around a smoking oven. They were shrieking half mad and half confused by the blackness coming out of the oven. Robin needed to turn it off. As he rushed towards it, one of the browlets tossed a fireball at the stove in rage. Robin redirected it into his hands to smother it and turned the oven off. No fire thankfully. The toddlers were all yelling at him now.

Robin was a little mad. If that had gotten out of control they could have gotten hurt. The infants were jumping up and down having a tantrum. "You want fire? You got it!" Robin spewed dragon fire from his mouth and played up some flames over his body. He looked like a demon out of hell. The browlets instantly stopped to watch. One or two ran from the room in terror. While a few stared in awe like a deer in the headlights before following after. Robin extinguished his embers. He sighed as he looked at the oven. Nothing looked damaged. Next he opened all the doors and windows to let the smoke out. 

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He heard a cough "Baking gone wrong Robin?" It was Ash and he coughed again. It now smelled like burnt cookies with Ash here. 

"The browlets decided to make something" Robin slowly opened the oven. It was a little hot. Robin and and Ash looked into the dark cavern of the oven. Inside was a tray of thoroughly chard lumps. Robin pulled the tray out puzzled.

"They tried to bake cookies again" Ash said with a tone both amused and nervous 

Robin gave Ash a look when he said again.    

"What burned?" A deeper voice asked. Malik, came into the kitchen and he was holding a rather large fire extinguisher. Malik was Eni's partner in crime and lover. Malik a rather large satyr who filled every doorway with his body. He helped out at the orphanage too but wasn't as good at Eni at it. Though no one was as good as Eni. 

"The browlets were baking again" Ash grabbed the tray of burnt mounds and showed Malik.

Malik's nose subconsciously wrinkled "I wonder what they used as batter this time."

"Ash, Eni is in his office. I can take care of the mess." Robin was already taking out the cleaning stuff.

"Are you sure?" Ash made a face. Malik had the tray now and was eyeing the mounds quizzically.

"Yeah I got this" Robin gave him a closed eye grin. "It's not that bad" He looked towards Malik "I can throw those to compost Malik"

"I should probably bring these to Eni first. You know how he gets upset if he's not in on the fun." With that Malik turned to find Eni. Ash waved a goodbye to Robin before following the giant out.

With both gone, Robin turned to assess how bad everything was. The oven was a mess and so were all the counter tops. He looked up. The ceiling too??! Batter was everywhere and so were ingredients. It looked like they used mud from the seedling nursery. "At least they knew to use the good stuff" Robin joked. If he had been wearing a shirt he would have rolled up his sleeves.

It was some time before he was completely done cleaning. Ash came in a few times to help throughout the day. He would have stayed to help clean longer but Robin kept navigating him out to distract the browlets. The browlets were mad about him and having Ash in the kitchen was like lighting a beacon to all the browlets. This is turn made it harder to clean so Ash finally just gave up to humor the browlets. Robin could hear something about a stock but thought nothing more about it.

During dinner time, the kitchen was usable again. Ash, Malik and Robin helped to cook dinner while Eni distracted the young ones. Dinner was normal and went as planned. Ash said his goodbyes and left for his home. All the browlets and seedlings were tucked in for the night...well the browlets as good as they could get. Robin assumed some were faking.

Robin decided to stay at the orphanage for the night. He had an apartment nearby but today he wanted to be there just in case they tried the cookie trick again.

It must have been super early when he woke because his room was still dark. Robin blinked not like he could see much without his glasses. He did have something heavy standing on his chest though. 

"Dragon wake up!" a tiny smack smack on his cheek from a small hand.

Groggy Robin pulled his glasses from a sealed case and put them on. He sat up causing his waker to jump off. Robin's eyes were trying to adjust but he couldn't see much in the dark. Robin lit his fortune lightglass and saw three tiny browlets. Robin recognized them as some of the ring leaders. The browlets all listened to Eni but after that they had some sort of hierarchy. 

"We decided to allow you 1 stock of cookie stock dragon man." One of them said proudly.

Robin smiled humoring them and utterly confused. "That sounds great" he replied. "Now everyone back to bed." Robin got up and half awake, escorted the tiny ones back to their rooms.

"Ceremony tomorrow!" One of them barked.

"Ok ok. Sounds grand" Robin did his closed eye smile and tucked them in.

Satisfied they all settled noticing that they were actually tired.

Robin quietly shut the door and went back to bed "Ceremony eh?" he thought before falling asleep as well.

In the morning they had breakfast. Malik was double flipping pancakes as Eni and Robin kept browlets from climbing all over the table. Eni didn't force the browlets to eat at the table but wanted to make sure they were at least all fed. Robin had a check list as browlets came in and out of the kitchen. It was hectic but it was even more hectic before. Robin remembered Eni was able to remember which browlet had eaten from memory. When Robin had asked Eni would just reply "I just know" with his signature smile. That didn't fly for Robin so he tag teamed with a check list. The Seedlings were already fed. They were much easier so they had gotten their breakfast a lot earlier in the morning.

Once everything had calmed down a toddler tugged on the bottom of his apron. "Ceremony!" they exclaimed loudly.

Robin looked down confused. It was one of the browlets from last night. Robin paused for a bit to think "Ah yes the cookie stock"

The browlet gave him a toothy grin very happy Robin had remembered.

Robin followed the little one to one of the bedrooms and the "leaders" were all waiting. They began explaining the cookie stock. Robin was being given 1 stock. From what he understood a stock could be traded to browlets for 1 favor. They also had specific cookie value depending on the type and age of the cookie. Some browlets valued the cookie depending on their taste too. Freshly made Ash cookies were the highest value. That explained why the browlets always swarmed the satyr when he visited. Robin looked at their crudely drawn stocks. Ash had a lot of it apparently. Robin thought about it a bit before one of them shouted "Need blood for it to be official!"

Robin gave them a closed eye smile. He was rather confused and suspicious but it didn't read on his face. The wheels began turning in his brain. Maybe he could use this cookie stock later. "Okay I'll invest" 

The browlets gathered there excitedly bounced up and down. All were chanting dragon man.

Robin got his finger pricked and the deal was done. He was presented with a character bandaid and he was officially in the cookie stock. 

Robin did his normal chores before his break time. He passed the kitchen before remembering about the cookie stock. Robin walked up to the oven. It wasn't the newest model but it still worked. It looked slightly abused with a dented handle. There were a few bite marks and scuffs. "Kind of looks like it went to war" he mused. Robin opened it, nothing was in it. Maybe it was time to learn how to bake a few cookies. Not enough to saturate the market but enough to get what he wanted. Maybe he could get Ash to teach him. Robin wasn't bad at baking but he wanted to be on point. Robin frowned. Maybe it was best to bake at home but he had options. 

At the end of his work day he went home. He passed Clover on the street on his way out. Clover was a trinket seller traditionally but would dabble in exports if there was a market. Robin had bought the charm for his glasses case from them. It kept his case invisible when he stayed at the orphanage overnight. "The charm for the case works wonderfully"

Clover smiled "I'm glad to hear." 

"Do you happen to sell supplies for cookies as well?" Robin asked.

Clover was just about to answer when another fellow interrupted. Robin had never seen them around before. He was dressed in a flowing robe with a blue patterned bag in one hand. "Do you need stuff for baked goods? I can sell you some at a good price."

Clover made a face. Clearly recognizing the other merchant. It wasn't a good recognition. Robin took notice. 

"My name is Leon. I am a Humble merchant and toter of the rare, common and exotic!" he almost struck a pose. Robin half expected him to whip out a business card. 

"I'm not buying currently but I'll keep that in mind" Robin gave him his standard closed eye smile.

The merchant known as Leon frowned. He looked disappointed. Robin couldn't help but feel guilty. Why was that? In normal circumstances he wouldn't. He must of had an aspect. 

"I see. Well, I'm always around. Ta!" Leon nodded at Clover with a smile. Clover smiled back. You could feel a little bit of odd air. Robin half expected Clover to punch him but they both seemed civil in an odd way.

Clover waited for Leon to be out of sight before answering. "I can definitely get some ingredients if you send me a list."  Robin got Clover's contact info and then headed home. 

Robin's place was very neat. It looked unused. Not surprising since most of his time was spent at the orphanage. He might take Eni's offer of staying at the orphanage. It would cut down on his rent cost. He however did want a place to go that didn't have browlets trying to get their hands into everything. Robin made his way to his kitchen. The space was also spotless. The kitchen was fairly modern. Island in the middle with stainless steel appliances. His oven was mounted on the wall of his kitchen. It was hardly used and it looked just as it had when he moved in. It was a little dusty but not bad. There was definitely space to cook without browlet interference. Maybe he'd call Ash in the morning about recipes.