[YOTB] Hop to It

Shibani had, at first, thought it difficult to choose between the three buns he thought might have some good ingredients for the mochi. It was via a spark of inspiration after staring at a piece of colorful dango did he realize–wait a minute, who said that he had to limit to just one ingredient? If what prompted Allocer to give a blessing was truly the combined effort of Dan and his mentor, then surely a mochi made from even more buns would be more tantalizing to him!

Yep, that seemed totally logical! Now it was just a matter of being able to visit all three buns in a span of a day…which was easier said than done, especially since he wasn’t that fast of a walker. The Wonderland Casino seemed closer to where he was now, so he decided to head there first. Buns around him were bustling, preparing for the upcoming festival, but there were still many more buns that were just minding their own business and enjoying themselves.

Actually, he noticed that there was one particular bun that seemed to be going in the same direction as him. Well, that wasn’t quite accurate. There were many buns that were making their way to the Wonderland Casino no matter the time of day, but he had a feeling that this particular bun was following him. Any other day, Shibani would have not noticed it, but perhaps it was because he was rather stressed out about the ingredients that he was paying more attention to his surroundings.

Anyhow, it did not seem this bun intended harm, and it would be silly for a bun to try something in broad daylight. Once he entered the establishment, it was just a matter of making a sharp turn to the left, circling around, and then appearing behind the back of the stalker bun.

Hey, wait a minute, this bun looked familiar!

“You were at the church too, right?”

After a yell and introductions, Shibani figured out that this bun was just curious about the mochi like he was! What a relief that this bun wasn’t anyone actively malicious and that he seemed fine with helping him out gather the ingredients. Of course, it was not going to be for free, Shibani knew that, but he hoped that Dan would be generous enough to spare at least a piece for the help.

That at least freed up time for the pale bun to head to Hops in hopes for some delectable strawberries. Even if he was not much of a drinker, he would visit here every so often with the company of other buns, but he preferred talking to Hops sometimes as the other buns drank merrily.

“Hi, Hops!”

“Shibani!”

She looked as busy as always, almost tripping over nothing and dropping a tray of drinks she had before quickly finding her footing and delivering said drinks to a table full of eager buns. Because it was daytime, however, there were a little less patrons in the bar, giving the pale bun a better opportunity to talk to her.

He explained to her about his desire to help Dan create the perfect gift for Allocer, which would end up involving some of her cocktail strawberries if she had any to spare. It turned out she did thanks to a sudden decision to cut out a bunch of drinks, but now she needed help with taste testing them all so that they were good to go for tomorrow’s celebration. 

“Me? Taste test drinks?”

“I know you’re a lightweight, Shibani, but just take some sips and tell me what you think, promise! So long as it’s something that you think other buns will like and get drunk on, it should get a pass. Though, ranking them by which tastes best would be great too!”

The pale bun was hesitant about this, as being drunk was going to make it difficult to secure the other ingredient from Hutch–and that was assuming that the bun he met earlier was able to get the matcha powder from Angora. But…this was for the strawberries! The best gift that would surely put a smile on Dan’s face..!

He swallowed a bit of his saliva as he eyed the two colorful drinks that Hops placed on the counter. In his head he kept telling himself that he was only to sip, not gulp. He should be fine, hopefully.

✲

Shibani was not fine, or was there suddenly an earthquake in the Burrowgatory?

No, the movements were woozy–he was sure that was his own body flailing from side to side like a toy. How many drinks had he tried, ten? Fifteen? He had to admit that some of them were a few more than just a sip, often by accident, with so many of them actually tasting quite good that he wouldn’t mind changing up his regular order to these every once in a while.

But those thoughts were at the furthest parts of his mind. Now he was worried how he was going to make it to Hutch. Was it too late to just down some water and hope for the best?

Thankfully, he was coherent enough to dictate to Hops which drink was which for the most part, or rather, what judgment he decided to pass on to them. He heard a little distantly that the number of drinks was certainly enough to create a menu that Angora liked and that she would deliver the strawberries to Dan’s mochi shop. Great! Great. Can the world stop moving now, please?