To Bake a Cake

Rumpleteazer bounded through the front door of Dr Strange's house, her arms full of grocery bags. She all but skipped into the kitchen and dumped her things on the counter, then turned to the stove. Thanks to Tony Stark, everything in the kitchen was now "smart," and she was a little daunted by the whole thing. Examining the stove, she growled to herself about the lack of usable knobs or buttons, then decided there was nothing for it but to experiment. "Hello?" She tapped the stovetop, as if to get its attention. "Erm… on?" The lights on the top came on, and an automated voice said –Instructions- Rumpleteazer shrugged. "Preheat to three hundred and fifty degrees." –Preheating to 350*- Teazer nodded and went to unpack her bags. A few moments later, she had everything laid out on the counter and was digging through the cupboard in search of a bowl, when Stephen walked in.

"What're you doing, kitten?"

She jumped and looked over at him. "Looking for a bowl. Big metal mixing bowl, to be specific. Do we have one?"

He pointed. "Cupboard by the fridge. What are you making?"

She hopped up on the counter and pulled the bowl down. "I'm going to bake a cake!" She beamed at him and dropped back to the ground. "Want to help?" She set the bowl on the counter and began arranging the dry ingredients next to it.

He grinned at her. "Sure, why not? What do you need me to do?"

"Find me measuring cups? Oh, better have measuring spoons, too… And a butter knife, please."

He began digging through drawers. "This may take me a minute. I don't know where most of the baking stuff is." As he spoke, he set a stack of baking cups and the butter knife beside her bowl.

She shrugged. "S'okay. We're not on a time limit. And I can always throw flour at you if you start moving too slow for me." She opened the bag of flour and scooped out a cup, leveling it with the knife. Slowly as she added the dry ingredients, Stephen was still searching for measuring spoons when she'd finished, and she stood and watched him for a few moments, contemplating actually just throwing flour. Finally, though, she just reached past him and pulled open the silverware drawer. Sure enough, there in the back was a collection of measuring spoons. She grabbed them, and flicked the back of Stephen's head with an amused grin. "Didn't you just get a knife out of there?"

Stephen rolled his eyes. "Yes. The spoons were… hidden? Or something…"

She laughed. "Nicely done." Quickly and efficiently, she measured out the wet ingredients. She handed him the bowl and a wooden spoon. "Here. Make yourself useful and stir that." She put away the milk and eggs, then turned and contemplated the flour. Just as she reached for it, though, the stove announced that 350 degrees had been reached. Rumpleteazer grabbed her cake pan and took the bowl from Stephen. She poured the batter into the pan and popped it into the oven. "Erm… bake for 35 minutes?" –Baking for 35 minutes- "Good. And now…" In one fluid move, Teazer scooped out a handful of flour, spun around, a launched it at Stephen. Her aim was perfect, and when the flour settled, Stephen's head was completely covered in the stuff. His eyes narrowed as he stepped away from the counter, grabbing the bowl of leftover cake mix.

"Oh, this is war now, little girl."

Her eyes went huge. "You wouldn't dare."

With a giant grin, he flipped a handful of the batter at her, catching her arm with it. "Oh no?"

She scraped the batter off of her arm, flinging it back at him. As he pulled more out, she grabbed a cookie sheet, using it as a make-shift shield while she launched more handfuls of flour.

A half an hour or so later, Clea walked into the kitchen to find it a complete mess. The cake was sitting on top of the stove, absolutely every surface in the kitchen was covered in flour or chocolate or both, and Teazer and Stephen were collapsed in helpless laughter on the floor. At the look on Clea's face (just before she backed out of the room), the two of them only laughed harder.

Shaking her head, Teazer stood up. "I've got to get this out of my hair." She offered Stephen a hand up. "C'mon, Poohbah. You ought to check a mirror, yourself… You've got a little something" she reached up a hand and touched his cheek, leaving a giant smear of chocolate behind "just there." With a giggle, she scampered off, leaving a trail of flour behind her.