Snippet #2823698

“Let’s see, baking aisle, baking aisle, where would I be if I was a baking aisle?” Jorji mumbled to himself, scanning the aisle signs. He had been to this store once before for furniture a few days ago, however he didn’t do much food shopping at the time. He had gotten basic college essentials like Pop Tarts and ramen, but neglected to plan ahead for anything more complicated than a bowl of cereal. When Mariya had suggested that they make their new roommates a welcoming gift, Jorji volunteered to go shopping and get everything they needed. They tossed around some ideas for what to make, but remembering the sweet, buttery taste of Jorji’s mom’s banana bread, they decided they’d have a crack at it themselves. Even now, he was starting to drool at the thought of it.

“Do you really not remember where it is? You walked through it twice last time you were here.” Azavon’s voice like molasses spoke into Jorji’s ear, bringing him out of his daydreams and back to reality. “Honestly, the fact that someone with such a poor memory like yours could make it into the volunteer pool is nothing short of a miracle.”

“Zip your digital lips, smartass. I need flour, not the peanut gallery.” Jorji appreciated Azavon’s help most of the time, but unfortunately the AI’s learning algorithm seemed to have picked up on his witty banter. Spotting the baking aisle, he wheeled the cart over and started going down his shopping list. “See? I knew where it was, I just needed a refresher. Not all of us have a bajillion gigabytes of photographic memory, Mr. Miracle.”

“That is true, I am superior to you in many ways.” His voice oozed mock pride, something he definitely picked up from Jorji.

“Riiiiiiight. Well, if you’re so superior, then I guess you can just hop out of the screen and make the banana bread for me, can’t you?” Hearing no witty reply from Azavon, Jorji smirked. “That’s what I thought. Don’t be down on yourself, I’m sure one day you’ll have a body as stunning as mine!” He said, striking a pose similar to a Greek statue he saw once.

“If the Yonder Wonder company ever did that, then I could outclass you physically AND mentally. Be careful what you wish for…”

Jorji gave a hearty laugh and resumed shopping, thinking about what he and Mariya would need for the banana bread. Thinking back on the last time the two of them had made food together made him smile. Senior year had been rough for the both of them, but especially so for Mariya. Her mom always wanted the best from Mariya, but that usually resulted in Mariya not having a ton of time for friend hangouts, especially with college applications being submitted. Mariya, having near perfect grades, had no trouble getting into the Periwinkle Institute. Jorji on the other hand barely scraped in by the skin of his teeth, and that was only thanks to Mariya pushing him so hard. It was a pain, but in the end he was glad she did, because now he was living in a college dorm with his best friend.

Mariya was the only one who welcomed him when he first moved to New York, and to a nervous young boy, a friend was the best thing he could ask for. She never judged him for anything, even his more embarrassing secrets like his stuffed animal collection, and because of that they had grown to rely on each other and support each other. It was really nice, getting a chance to hang out with her again, especially to bake something delicious. And now that he had the last of the ingredients they needed, he was ready to check out and rush back to the dorm…but not before getting them a pair of squishmallows to celebrate the occasion.



In the deep quietness of the night, the sound of slight shuffling could be heard about in the dark. What could such a sound possibly be? Though, even more importantly, who was making it? There were many imaginable culprits. The monster that hid beneath your bed and grabbed at your hanging exposed feet? Or perhaps it was your annoying younger sibling trying to get a good scare out of you? The hair-rising atmosphere was abruptly broken by the sudden cut on of bright lights from overhead that immediately illuminated every possible inch of the room they could reach. A figure was revealed and based on the standards of different people, the result of the mystery sound may be considered disappointing or relieving. It was just Mariya Fukuda, an ordinary college student. No monster nor troublesome sibling. Blue eyes curiously surveyed the scene in front of her. A clean and orderly kitchen with state of the art modern appliances. There was even one of the newest smart fridges on the market in here! Goodness, it seems they were really going all out for this project. But it wasn’t surprising to her in the slightest that they were.

After all, the technology at the Yonder Wonder company was simply revolutionary. There were no other words to describe it. Forget traveling to space when you could take a trip to a whole other world! Mariya got chills up her spine just thinking about it. ”Mistress, your heart rate is speeding up rapidly. Would you
like me to call for assistance?” A dreamy yet eloquent voice startled her back into reality. Christ, she’d have to get used to that fast or else she would die from fright every time Genesis popped up into existence from nowhere. Yes, Genesis, her personal gatekeeper assigned to her for the project. ”No thank you, Gene. That won’t be needed. I was just a little excited that’s all.” Thankfully there wasn’t another soul besides herself situated in the kitchen at the present moment or else she’d be thought a madwoman. A melodic hum from her digital companion let her know that her answer was acknowledged. Genesis was relatively young and had the mindset of a developing child. There was still much for the A.I to learn but eventually they’d reach that pinnacle together.

Mariya headed towards the cabinets and began rifling through them. Aside from a few random things that were most likely misplaced, there was practically nothing else in them. A frown morphed on her face. Was this the same case for the fridge? At this thought she drifted over to it and repeated her previous actions. Exactly as she thought, it was bare empty. Why hadn’t the company equipped them with proper necessities? Or perhaps this was a message that they needed to go out and get food themselves? But that wouldn’t make much sense, now would it? Mariya leaned back against the cold marble of the kitchen counter as she tried to give an answer of reason to this situation, eventually losing herself and any awareness in the deep pitfalls of her over analyzing mind.

”Mistress! There’s danger!” The sudden shout of alert from Genesis made Mariya jump but it was already too late by then. Helplessly a pair of A.I and human could only watch as a large stuffed animal soared through the air and hit its target square in the head. Said target being Mariya, of course.


With a soft thunk, the stuffed animal bounced off of Mariya’s head. “Headshot! I got you!” Jorji came out from around the corner, bags of groceries in tow, lifting one arm up to show them. “Ahh, the look on your face was priceless. I have everything we need to get started.” Jorji set the groceries on the counter and started unbagging everything. “Do you have the bowls and stuff?”

Staring at the fallen stuffed- no, squishmallow on the floor and gave it a hefty kick before deciding not to pursue the matter right now. Mariya would definitely see this injustice paid back. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold. ”Hm, do you want the good news or the bad?” She stated with a sullen look. Yonder Wonder was able to develop technology that would allow the user to travel to other worlds but they couldn’t purchase basic fundamental things for a kitchen dormitory. Please, what a fat joke!

“Let me guess, all this fancy tech and no mixing bowls? Seems like a massive oversight on their part.” Jorji could practically read the look on her face, and knew she was just as disappointed in them as he was. Luckily, Jorji had most of the basic utensils that his family had given him. They would just have to improvise with a few things. “I have some stuff of my own, looks like we’ll have to break it out. I’ll grab them and be right back.” He nodded towards the stairs back up to their rooms and started walking over.

Well, when Mariya thought about it from their point of view, maybe they didn’t think the kitchen would be actually used for things like cooking or baking. That probably wouldn’t be too far off considering most people can easily order out to eat on apps like DoorDash. Yet still even with that as a possible explanation, the kitchen resembling a desert couldn’t be excused. ”Lets praise your foresight in bringing your own stuff then!” She was being quite truthful with these words and happily waved Jorji off on his little journey.

After grabbing the dishes they would need, he went back down to the kitchen and started setting everything out. It had been a while since he had used them to bake anything, so they had gathered a bit more than just metaphorical dust. Thinking back on the last time they had baked together made him smile. “Hey, remember the last time we baked something? It was my 17th birthday sleepover, if I remember correctly.”

Laughter spilled out of her at the reminder, the memory of that night coming back at full force. ”I will never forget it. Who told you to let us fall asleep like that? No wonder we were scolded so hard by your mother.” An intense sense of nostalgia steamrolled over her and she couldn’t help but smile widely. It had been years since then but it only felt like yesterday to her. “Hey.. how’s she doing? I haven’t been able to visit her in a while because of school and everything.” She hoped Mrs. Alderman was fairing well these days. That woman was like a second mother to her at this point.

“Hey, for your information, that was right after midterms, so neither of us were exactly of sound mind that night. As far as mom goes, she’s doing pretty well. Of course, when I moved out and came to live here, she was all teary-eyed, even after I reminded her I would only be an hour away. I mean come on, is that such a far distance?” He chuckled, remembering back on it. He had finished washing and drying the last of the dishes and was now ready to get started. Grabbing the nearby trash can, he started peeling the bananas.

Ah, what was that? Oh nothing? Just an annoying fly. Mariya pointedly ignored what came out from her best friend’s mouth, mentally acknowledging them, and went about helping with the baking, snatching the peeled bananas from his hands after he was done with them. Next she dropped them into a bowl and turned in the hand mixer, keeping it relatively steady as it mashed up the fruit pieces. After that was done, adding sugar, eggs and vegetable oil were the following steps. Then lastly to mix. ”Da-da!” Mariya presented the bowl to Jorji and pushed it in his face. ”What do you think? Does it look okay?” She hadn’t touched anything related to baking in years.

Putting down the dry ingredients he had been mixing, he looked at the bowl being presented to him. It looked nearly identical to the way his mom had taught him it should look. He was surprised that with the long break from baking they had had, she had still managed to get it pretty much perfect on her first try. “Damn, that’s perfect! Good job!” Jorji wiped his hands dry and gave Mariya a pat on the head. “I’ve got the dry ingredients ready, and I started preheating the oven.” He took the bowl from her, pouring it into the dry ingredients and mixing it vigorously, then pouring it into the pans before putting them into the oven and setting the timer.

With the timer set for around 50-55 minutes Mariya had decided it was a good chance to take a break. Thus, now here they were, doing their respective things while making casual conversation as they waited for the timer to go off and the banana bread to finally be done. The oven failed to jail the tantalizing fragrance that wafted off of the cooking delicacy.

Mid conversation, the two of them heard the front door open, followed by footsteps coming down the hall. Jorji quickly hid his squishmallow, not wanting to let anyone know about it but Mariya, and looked in the direction of the approaching noise. A bob of red hair poked around the door frame, curious blue eyes taking in the scene before a woman dressed in what looked like a faintly anachronistic suit stepped into the doorway proper, a suitcase held over one shoulder.

”Hello…” she began, one hand gripping the strap of her tote. Her eyes drifted slowly over to the oven, then jerked back to the two of them as if catching herself. ”This is the dorm for the ise… whatever project right?”

Jorji looked the newcomer up and down, coming to the assumption that this was one of their new roommates. “Yes, you’re in the right spot. I’m Jorji, and this is Mariya.” He said, gesturing to her. “I didn’t catch your name, what is it?”

”Aaauuuuh. Meg.” She shifted her feet, seemingly unsure of what to do with herself. ”A pleasure.”

Noticing her apparent nervousness and earlier glance at the oven, Jorji decided to let Meg be the first of their roommates to partake in their welcome gift. “It isn’t done yet, but when we take it out, we can let you take the first slice? It’s a welcoming gift for everyone moving in, and that includes you.”

Meg waffled for a bit, shifting from one foot to the other with such frequency that she was nearly bouncing in place. “Oh! Um. Really? I mean- Thank you, I guess? I don’t want to- Ah.” She squared her feet, tucking a loose lock of her hair back behind her ear. ”Ok! Thanks?”

He let out a slight chuckle and smiled. “Alright, we’ll come and get you when it’s ready.”

Throughout the entire exchange Mariya had merely only nodded and smiled during the appropriate moments. She wasn’t that good at interacting with people she didn’t know that well and left that up to those more qualified. But as she noticed Meg and Jorji’s interaction coming to a close she decided to slip in one last word for courtesy. ”Don’t feel pressured to take it or anything if you don’t want too. She had noticed that the other girl seemed a bit... uncomfortable?

”Oh no, it’s fine, I appreciate it!” Meg insisted, backpedaling on her apparent apprehension. ”No, yeah, I’ll definitely have some! I appre-” She cleared her throat, realizing she was just repeating herself on a loop now. ”...appreciate it.”

Her hands wrung the strap of her suitcase, gaze cast to the floor as she fell into an awkward silence. After a moment she rallied, taking a step back as she prepared to make her escape and leave them to it. ”So I’ll just head up to my room then!” she declared, perhaps a bit too loudly. ”It was nice meeting you both! I look forward to um. Working with… you. I guess. Bye!” And then she left, offering up a quick wave of her hand before Jorji and Mariya were alone again.