Complete Private It’s Been a Long Time Coming

[Luthien]

She listens with interest as Ronja mentions her favorite treat to be ice cream, but before the blonde can ask which flavor she’s met with a surprising fact of Lena. "Wait, for real?" Somehow the image of Lena being an expert at sweet things sounds almost impossible, but the look on Ronja’s face confirms that her friend isn’t pulling her leg this time around.

"Damn, not gonna lie but I would’ve never guessed that." It was certainly a fact that the blonde would’ve never placed it on her 2034 bingo card, causing a soft chuckle to escape. "I was thinking of trying to surprise you by making you your favorite, but there’s no way I’d best Lena."

A light shrug of her shoulders concedes the imaginary victory over to the head maid, before a cheeky smile dances on her lips as she answers Ronja without missing a beat. "Dark chocolate~ i could have it in almost any form really—but not with mint though." A grimace soon contours her features, the distaste for that combination impossible to miss.

"Mmm, what about Lena? Do you know what her favorite is?" She’s quick to chase after the new thought that formed within her mind, the glint in her eyes undoubtedly clueing Ronja into the blonde’s idea. "Wanna surprise her instead?"

Part of her isn’t sure if her own cooking skills could match those of Ronja’s head maid, but trying something new out in the kitchen with a friend is always fun.

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Val's surprise brought a faint chuckle out of Ronja, but when she admitted she wished to surprise Ronja by making her favorite, the girl looked at her friend surprised, and a small smile. "I would still like... To taste your surprise though..." Ronja said, with her eyes locked on Val's and tilting her head slightly. "I wonder... If I could make a dark chocolate to you as well..."

She would need to find a recipe, and the means to make chocolate, because she doubted that buying dark chocolate, melting it and making it be in another shape counted as 'making dark chocolate'.

When the idea of surprising Lena came into the table, however, Ronja blinked, surprised as she had never thought of surprising the headmaid. After all, the idea of managing to 'surprise' her sounded liked a herculean task... But maybe it wouldn't be impossible?

"I... I am not sure what is her favorite..." Ronja rubbed her chin. "But..." Trying to go through her memories, something snapped into the depths of her mind.

"Lena... Hardly asks for anything... But there was a day... That she didn't hold back on asking my mother... If she could have some of the liqueur bonbon that were leftovers of a party..."

 

[Luthien]

"If you’re thinking about making chocolate from the ground up; don’t. I’ve researched it, and it’s not worth it," She knew that look in Ronja’s eyes, the face of the tinkerer when she was in deep thought about a new idea easily replicated in the real world. "... maybe if we get a twenty-twenty repeat, but even then it’s questionable at best."

And that was assuming they skipped the whole “grow your own cacao plant” process and just got hold of the actual fruit. Fermenting, drying, roasting… there were so many steps required to make everyone’s favorite—and often taken for granted—sweet treat, and that also meant plenty of ways for a newbie to fuck that process up and needing to start over.

As much as Val liked experimenting in the kitchen, and trying to make almost anything and everything from scratch, she’d learned with time that some things were best bought to save herself the time and headaches.

"Liqueur bonbons, hmmm..." She’d never been particularly attracted to them, mainly because most used milk chocolate—making them an even bigger sweet bomb when combined with their filling—on top of being a little bit messy if not careful. "Do you remember if she liked any specific one in particular?"

Considering that Lena could make ice cream for Ronja it was probably safe to assume that they owned an ice cream machine somewhere in the kitchen, and already the little cogs inside her brain were slowly turning with an idea of her own. "We could—in theory at least—kill three birds with one stone…?" Her gaze drifted back to Ronja, wondering what her friend thought about this so far, before elaborating further.

"First we’d make a liqueur ice cream of the one Lena likes the most…" Simple enough to do if they counted with the correct equipment and ingredients, and recipes were always aplenty on the internet. "... scoop up a few into tiny balls and freeze them extra hard…" Speaking the steps out loud helped Val visualize the process, while also letting her friend follow in what it would entail. So far it all sounded relatively simple, though things would probably get a bit messy—but when are they not in a kitchen, right?

"... and then dip them into tempered dark chocolate before letting it cool down and harden." They could even sprinkle a few with additional toppings if they were feeling particularly creative too. "That would cover all of the sweets we like: ice cream, dark chocolate, and bonbon liqueur~"

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"... Of course it is... If it is to surprise you..." She said, unsure of why it wouldn't be worth to go through the process of making a chocolate. It probably wasn't as hard as it sounded, right? And it was good to experience new things. It wasn't like Ronja had anything else to do of her life.

"I'm not sure, actually..." She pondered. "It has been so long..."

No matter how much she tried, her memory failed her. She never truly paid attention to the meal of those fancy parties her family had. Her attention was always locked on the guests, keeping a welcoming behavior, and keeping herself awake through it.

"But I doubt... She wouldn't like any liqueur bonbon... Lena is scary but she is just like anyone, and anyone likes good food..." Ronja said.

The idea of killing three birds with a stone made Ronja's eyebrow quirk up, wondering what Val meant with it... But as soon as the idea was unfold, the girl perked up. "That... That sounds like a wonderful idea, Val..!" Her eyes sparkled, and she gulped quietly, feeling her mouth watering slightly at the sweet and tasty idea.

She wondered how good it would be to taste such a delicious frozen treat!

 

[Luthien]

A soft sigh escaped upon hearing her friend, the brunette could be quite stubborn when she wished to be. "Fine… but don’t say I didn’t warn you." Despite her words a genuine smile tugged her lips, before her shoulders lifted in a soft shrug as the blonde allowed the matter to drop.

"True… I’d never met anyone that would turn away good food." No sane person would at least, and scary as Lena could be at times she was still human like the rest of them. The look on Ronja’s face easily sealed the deal as the blonde let out a soft laughter. "Guess the first thing we should check is if there’s any liqueur around."

It wasn’t something that Valeria kept in her own home unless she’d recently bought some for a specific recipe, but if there was any to be found perhaps it would be safe to assume that Lena was fond of whatever flavor was kept in stock… and if not they could always order some online and have it delivered.

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

The brim of defiance grew in Ronja's eyes, that smugly set on Val's before they focused on the conversation again.

Ronja clasped her hands. "We have some... In our cellar..." A pleased smile crossed Ronja's lips as she drew their trump card. They would have no issues on the ingredients, and their selection would be very large, so it was a matter of making the right choices.

"... We just need to know which one to infuse in the ice cream bonbons..." She crossed her arms, with thoughts lingering in her mind, considering the best options they had.

"Why don't we go there, actually..?" Ronja suggested, rolling the wheels to move to where the 'kitchen' of that gourmet space was supposed to be, hoping to guide her friend if she was following. "The only complicated part... Will be distracting Lena... Until we are done..." She said.

"Maybe she even... Already knows of our plans..." Ronja threw a sharp gaze at a general direction toward the garden, narrowing her eyes for a moment before she slid into the kitchen.

 

[Luthien]

Yup, she knew that look—and once her friend was dead set on something it was almost impossible to change her mind about it.

"Lead the way then~" Bless Ronja’s cellar, here to their rescue. "It’ll be easier to pick one once we see what options are available."

Already the blonde had a couple of ideas and, considering they had no way of knowing which one was Lena’s favorite, probably going with a mild flavored one would be their best bet. "A vanilla ice cream would probably be best, sweet but not overpowering in flavor so it’s not competing with the chocolate and the liqueur." It would all come down to what liqueur would play off against the chocolate they chose.

"Oh, true… otherwise that would ruin the whole surprise." Distracting Lena sounded like a task easier said than done however, brows furrowed as Valeria tried to think of something that could even work—"Bwha? Nah, surely not…?"

Crimson eyes looked around the room as if to confirm that the head maid was nowhere in the space with them, and she hadn’t followed them around the home as they’d been touring so far. "I-It’s not like the walls have eyes and ears… right?"

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja nodded eagerly at the idea. Vanilla sounded like the perfect neutral, and fresh ingredient to the job. "It is failproof." Ronja agreed, and when she noticed her friend felt intimidated at the idea of being heard, she decided to make it worse:

"They don't need eyes and ears... Just Lena's eyes and ears are enough..." Ronja explained, and as soon as they neared the door to the cellar, Ronja opened it.

There was no elevator to that particular area, but there was stair lift.

Maneuvering the wheel chair to get next to it, Ronja took a moment to brace herself, grasping the arms of her chair before she struggled for a moment to get on her feet. The girl immediately rested a hand on a nearby wall, and while she didn't ask Val's help, she wouldn't reject if her friend tried to give a hand.

With careful steps on the trembling legs, Ronja soon got on the stair lift seat, letting out a sigh and glancing to Val. "Let's go." She pressed a button, and the chair went all the way down, to an area that looked rather rustic compared to the rest of the house. The flooring was made out of burnt cement, with the dimlight brought from the warm light of the ceiling being barely reflected by the dark wood the shelves had.

The selection of drinks were impressive, many of them were older than Ronja and Val... And others were older even if you added the age of the two girls together.

As soon as the chair gave room for Val to walk down, Ronja called for her, and she soon added: "Moving here... Is a bit of a trouble... But Ronja will be here to help you..." She tapped the arm of the stair lift's chair for emphasis.

 

[Luthien]

Val finally noticed the look in her friend’s gaze, a light chortle escaping the blonde as she shook her head gently while following the brunette. "You’re sure Lena’s not a magia that managed to infiltrate our world then?" Then again part of her supposed this place must have good security… which often meant cameras for visuals and audio recording in some cases. Perhaps the joke of the head maid already being onto their little surprise wasn’t too far fetched after all.

She’d caught onto what the brunette was planning to do a second before Ronja began to get onto her own two feet. Just like that the blonde had moved to Ronja’s side, silently offering her friend the assistance she’d need to get into the chair lift comfortably. "Y’know, maybe we should just lock ourselves inside the fully furnished bunker next while we work on the surprise."

Her voice was light and jovial as she joked, but it was definitely certain that this place was prepared with almost anything and everything that those living in it could want or need. She’d followed a few steps behind Ronja as the lift slowly moved to the bottom of the stairs, before an appreciative whistle echoed as Val gazed at the underground cellar.

"Damn… grandpa would’ve loved seeing one of these." He’d always spoken of the ones he’d seen while visiting Italy with her nonna, and how he’d always wanted to have one of his own. Now that she was seeing one with her own two eyes Valeria could understand why he’d seemed to smitten with the idea.

"Gotcha, promise I won’t be long." She softly squeezed Ronja’s hand before moving further into the cellar and, with some guidance from Ronja, she was soon standing in front of the various liqueur options available down here. "Whoa… that’s more than I expected."

The years on some of the wine bottles hadn’t gone unnoticed by Val as she’d passed them, aware that plenty of the bottles here easily surpassed their ages… and that was without taking into account the handful that were older than Ronja and herself combined. "Hmm, either one of these would be good…" She’d managed to narrow down the choices to just two bottles after some careful thought, but it was hard to just pick one from what she knew alone.

"Hey Ronja," Carefully she stepped out of the aisle and into view once more, a bottle carefully held in each hand as she presented them to the brunette. "Which one do you think would work best for Lena?"

The first was a combination the blonde knew well, the acidity of oranges often played well against the bitterness of dark chocolate—and the sweetness of the vanilla ice cream would easily round everything together. The second was one that Val had never personally worked with, but she did enjoy the fruit itself on occasions. It should’ve been somewhat tart enough to still stand out on its own, though not as sharp and contrasting as the pairing of orange and dark chocolate would be—a mellower, but still pleasant, experience for their taste buds.

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

When @Luthien mentioned the fully furnished bunker, Ronja paused for a moment, tilting her head as if she was actually considering the idea. "Hmm..." Her eyes narrowed momentarily, and she shook her head slightly. "No... If we use the bunker... Lena will certainly find us out..." She said, tapping her hand slightly at the arm of the chair, patiently waiting for her friend to venture through the cellar, and giving her a brief acknowledging nod when she said she wouldn't take long.

It really didn't take long for her friend to show up with two bottles, both of which that made Ronja think for a bit.

"... I know... It will sound silly..." Ronja crossed her arms.

"But the red one... Looks too playful..." She delivered the most superficial reasoning one could ever pull off about that situation.

Ronja tilted her head.

"Bauchant may be better..." It was a guess, and she hoped she was right. But at the end of the day, even if it wasn't the optimal choice, the rest of the ingredients could save the composition.

 

[Luthien]

"I…" Her mouth opened as if the blonde was gonna say more, before Val took a moment to think better of it. While she’d meant the bunker as a joke, part of her was realizing that—given what she’d seen thus far—there was a chance it could very well exist too. "Y’know what, I’m not even gonna question it."

True to her words Valeria had returned back not too long after diving into the sea of hidden brews of the underground cellar, with the two choices presented to Ronja for the final say. "It looks too playful…?" She couldn’t help but repeat the words as her mind processed them, and by the look on the blonde’s face it was clear she’d never even thought that would’ve been a reason.

"Pffft...! Alright, that’s a no to PAMA then." A soft chuckle slipped past before the blonde regained her composure, the amused glint in her eyes hard to miss as she handed the orange liqueur over to Ronja. "I’ll go put it back where I found it."

It didn’t take long for the red bottle to be carefully placed back in its original spot before Valeria made her way back, her mind already thinking of the various options available to them for today’s experimental surprise. ”There’s another way we could incorporate the liqueur too now that I think about it." It’d be a couple of extra steps, but nothing too terrible or at least Val thought so compared to the surprise they’d give Lena.

"We could make a peach and orange liqueur jam," She waited for the chair lift to begin its ascent before slowly following behind. "And stuff it into the center of our bonbon ice cream treats~"

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja tilted her head at Val's confusion, but before she could ask anything about it, the perplexed expressions of her friend, followed by a laugh, interrupted her and caused her to laugh briefly along. "Too playful..." She emphasized with a nod, watching while her friend went to put away the red bottle back to its spot.

When Val returned, she already offered another option, and this one made Ronja ponder deeply.

"Hmm... Maybe this one will be a better idea, yeah..." She considered. It sounded easier too, and it would be a nice touch to the taste.

"We need to avoid making things... Too hard to pick up the taste... So I like it..." The ingredients would have their own moments to shine if they were placed into layers, unlike their previous idea that was more of everything being all together in a singularity.

Pressing the button, the chair started moving upstairs, and upon getting there, Ronja went through the same process as before, but this time going back to her wheelchair, letting out a faint sigh and looking up at Val. "... We need to keep it somewhere... So we can make the treat later..." She said. "Do you want to see the rest of the house..? Or do you want to try and make the treat now..?"

If the latter was the case, they needed to make up an excuse to make sure Lena would be out of their sight at any moment and wouldn't find out.

 

[Luthien]

She nodded affirmatively as Ronja easily picked up the reasoning behind her new suggestion, a bright grin on her face as she spoke. "Bingo~" There was also the added factor that she wasn’t sure how much alcohol to infuse into the ice cream without overpowering it, and if they did used too much it’d be easier to correct in the peach jam.

The bottle was taken for safekeeping once Ronja reached the top of the stairs, before the blonde offered her support so her friend had an easier time switching from the lift and back into her wheelchair. "Mmm... we could hide it in my stuff, I guess?" If Lena somehow stumbled on it she could always claim it’d been bought as a gift or something, right?

"It’s gonna be trickier to keep her out of our sights for a few hours though," And that was if Ronja actually owned an ice cream machine—something Valeria had initially assumed. Now that she’d had a bit more time to think about it she’d realized it wouldn’t be too far out there to think Lena might’ve made ice cream without one. "Any ideas that you think would actually work to get her out of the house that long?"

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja smiled gratefully, and as soon as the suggestion came—

"Oh, good idea..." Keeping it in Val's belongings was a nice way to keep it hidden that Ronja didn't consider before, of course, since she would never consider using someone else's tools to go through the small sweet conspiration they were planning.

Ronja nodded. "I could ask Lena to buy something... The other maids aren't here today... they are on vacation." She explained.

"So she is the only one that could go out there to buy things... We could ask her to buy something specific... telling we want to make a special dinner, and then we will have this time to do everything..." Ronja suggested. The hard part would be convincing Lena that Val was trustworth to stay alone with her at home.

"It will be tricky... but it is our chance..." Ronja shrugged slightly, moving away for a moment, and glancing around, as if trying to spot Lena subtly.

 

[Luthien]

"Right? I doubt she’d look in there anyways." If Lena was going to scan the contents of her suitcase the blonde assumed she would’ve done so by now, so the chances of the head maid coming across the Bauchant were low enough to be worth a shot.

"I see—wait, other maids...?" She looked at the brunette with a dumbfounded expression, and one could almost see the cogs inside her brain slowly shifting behind Val’s eyes. Somehow her mind had always assumed it was just Lena and Ronja, but this mansion was huge enough to be too much for one person to handle—even for someone like Lena. "R-Right… that makes sense actually."

It seemed luck was on their side though, with the rest of the staff unavailable that meant Lena would have to take on whatever task the pair could think of to get the head maid gone for a few hours. "Mmm... I doubt any one task would take Lena long enough." Not with how efficient the head maid looked to be, and Val was almost certain she’d rush back double time only because Ronja would be alone in the mansion with someone who was essentially a stranger for the older woman.

"Maybe a couple of tasks? Or something that forces her to go in opposite directions—hopefully she stumbles into some traffic along the way too." Maybe it started to rain while Lena was out on errands, that always dropped the collective IQ of those on the road to the low double digits every time.

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja looked at Val, uncertain of her surprise. "Yes, other maids..." She nodded, raising two fingers. "We have other two in here... and Lena is the headmaid." That place was too big to be taken care of by only one person, and as much as Ronja hated to admit, she also needed to depend on someone, sometimes... Even if her confidence has been honed lately, making her seek for more independence in real life as well.

Val did bring out a fact that Ronja had allowed to slip through her mind, however. Indeed, Lena would hardly take too long to finish a task, so Ronja needed to give a pile of things for the maid to be busy with.

Rubbing her chin, she nodded slowly.

"I may have a few ideas..." She clasped her hands together, and a small smile crossed her lips. "That may... Need me to be a little sincere with her... Instead of outright making an excuse..." Ronja nodded, more to herself than to her friend, and her smile widened to her.

"Anyway... I will go talk to her... Feel free to look around... You are at home..!"

 

[Luthien]

The small smile that crossed Ronja’s lips was one the blonde knew well, the spark behind her eyes signaling her friend already had some tricks up her sleeve. "Hey, you’re the one that knows her best—she’s all yours~" She’d trust her friend with that task—after all, it’s not like anyone else would be able to convince the head maid to leave the mansion for a considerable span of time.

"Thanks, I’ll chill out in the living room while you talk with Lena then." She brought attention towards her phone as Val pulled it out of her back pocket, tapping the screen softly with her nail. "Gives me time to look over different recipes and find which ones will work best for us."

Best to use their time wisely, ‘cause Val was certain that Lena would find a way to return at record speed regardless of whatever task Ronja set out for the head maid. Probably best to assume we have half of whatever time it’d take a normal person to get things done… She’d waved to Ronja as the girls reached the living room, watching the brunette head off to search for Lena, before the blonde carefully plopped herself on a sofa—quietly humming to herself as she browsed the web for the things they’d need.

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja smiled at Val's trust on her. "I won't take long..." She promised, rolling her wheelchair away to try to get to Lena. With a phone message, it didn't take long to find her, and Ronja did some persuasion magic, with truths and ommiting some information here and there, to not ruin the surprise completely.

Keeping her promise, it took about ten minutes before Ronja showed with Lena pushing her wheelchair right from behind. The headmaid had a bag hanging on her shoulder, and a jacket over her black maid dress, that lacked the iconic apron. She didn't have her headress either.

"I will need to leave to buy some groceries."

She said, with her eyes on Val.

"Ms. Riemenschneider told me that she trusts you to keep her company, and in this case, I will be leaving her to your care."

Without extending herself further, she offered her phone to the other girl. She was silent about it, leaving as soon as her phone number was taken.

Waving a goodbye, Ronja smiled faintly and rested her hands over her lap, soon looking to Val. "Alright... We should have plenty of time... But we won't have the whole day... So let's be fast... We just don't need to hurry too much..." She explained.

 

[Luthien]

The bottle of orange liqueur had been safely stashed into her things before the blonde had sat down to wait as Ronja enacted her part of the plan and, sure enough, she eventually caught the sound of footsteps as the head maid wheeled her friend into the living area. She stood up as Lena’s voice filled the room, quick to write down and share her own details with the head maid, before waving along with Ronja as Lena finally left the mansion.

Carefully she’d peeked out a window with baited breath, and only when the woman was officially out of the gates and gone did Valeria let out a relieved exhale. "How long do you think we really have before she’s coming back through those doors?" Realistically speaking the ice cream could be done in about forty-five minutes if her initial assumptions of an ice cream maker existing somewhere in this mansion were correct.

The peach jam would probably be another half hour and tempering the dark chocolate shouldn’t take more than ten minutes if something didn’t fuck up. After allotting time for any mix ups and cooling periods, all in all Valeria estimated everything could be done in about two to two and a half hours… or an hour and a half if they were really lucky.

"We should probably start by gathering all the ingredients to make sure we’re not missing anything." She’d compiled a list over the three different recipes that Valeria had chosen from the internet to guide their little culinary adventure. "Sent you the list via text, once we have them all we’ll measure out the quantities and figure how to go from there~"

@Ronja

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja gave a mischievous smile to Val when she asked the 'true' time they had. "She won't be coming back... Until I tell her to..." Ronja admitted, peeking to see if Lena was actually gone, and then spoke with a quieter voice. "I've told her I had a very important and private matter... To discuss with you... And I needed zero people in the mansion..."

She grinned.

"But I've told her to give leave the mansion... And give an excuse to you..." Ronja giggled faintly at the idea that she had, putting Lena to think she was being low-key and letting Val be unaware of what was happening, when it was the other way around.

"... I did ask her to buy some stuff while being at it though..." She added.

When Val explained about the list, Ronja perked up, reaching for her phone and scrolling through the options, nodding a few times and then looking to her friend. "We have... All of this in here..." Ronja declared. "Let's go to the pantry..." She said, already getting to move and to guide her.