Adopted Donquixote

Give Me A Reason

Homing spent the day working on his piece of pottery, when he wasn't busy with customers, and made sure it would be flawless, settling for nothing less than absolute perfection; his coworker, Sheila, asked what he was up to when she noticed the behavior. "I'm making something for my daughter. She's been...feeling down lately." While Homing trusted her, he didn't feel the need to be specific about what was happening at home. Being a parent of a foster child herself, Sheila had stood by Homing's side about their choice to adopt Nakano. "Everything's impacted her hard, huh?" "Yes. We had no idea what's been happening, but the people at her school have been increasingly violent with her." "The poor thing. Why can't they just stay out of her buisness?" "I just hope that Naka will trust us, and let us help. We'll try to be there for her, but of course, she has to be the one to come to us. I feel trapped, if I'm being honest." "My door's always open if you need to talk." Homing was too busy with his project to help the new customers, so Sheila handled them in his place, and got them situated.

Once his pottery piece was completed, Homing set it aside, and paid for all that he'd used to work on it, already thinking of the smile it would bring his daughter; it was so powerful, it kept a smile on his face for the rest of the day. "Thank you for your help, Sheila, I appreciate it." "You're more than welcome, Homing. I'm here to help any time you need it." At the end of the day, the friends parted ways with a hug, and Homing carried his daughter's present to their house. When the door opened, he was surprised to be greeted with the smell of fresh cookies, and the sound of his children from the kitchen. "Daddy, is that you?" "Yes, dear. Is your mother home?" "Yeah, she's in a bath! Ah! Fofo! Stop it!" He heard the telltale squeaks of Nakano's sneezing, and moved into view of his kids to see what they'd gotten themselves into; he was happy to find that they were only messing around with the cookie ingredients in some kind of sibling war. "Children, don't make a mess you can't clean up." Doffy merely grinned, and used his flour covered hands to paint his sister's face.

"Pleh! Ick! Doffy!" It made Homing smile, and he brought the piece of pottery to his, and his wife's room, leaving Naka, and Doffy to their mess. Rosinante's job was ref, calling out inappropriate holds, or hits in the sibling rivalry, blowing the whistle when Doffy yanked his sister's hair too long or when Naka hit too close to the off limit zone. "One more illegal move, and I'm calling this match!" "Ah shut it, you aren't even watching." Doflamingo went to grab a handful of cookie dough, only to get his hand smacked with the wooden spoon. "Ouch! Ref!" Rosi made a noise, and brought his hand between his siblings, signaling the end of the match. "That's it! It's a draw, both of you to your corners!" While Doflamingo grumbled, Nakano tried to hide her smile, but just couldn't hold it back. "I promise you'll get the first cookie, Fofo." The oldest child smiled to himself as he gently plopped down on the couch. With the oven pre-heated, Naka hurried to mix the ingredients the rest of the way, shape the dough, and get it on the tray; with oven mitts on, she slid the dough ball filled tray onto the oven shelf, and closed it.

She loved making cookies, and had begged their mother to teach her how since she was a child, this would put her skills to the test, and she hoped it would hold the love for her family, and her passion for cooking the desserts in each bite. When Kaida returned to her family in her nightwear, with her husband holding her hand as they made their way down the stairs, she was just as surprised as Homing to find fresh cookies laid out on a plate for each family member, and their daughter setting the food down with slightly shaking hands. "Oh, hey mama, hey papa. Come get your cookies." "Did you kids make these?" The spouses sat where the two empty chairs had a plate in front of them, Homing setting the present at his feet. "Well Naka did it all, and Doffy painted her shirt for her." "What?" The kids chuckled, Naka continuously wiped at the remaining flour on her clothes. "Doffy got flour all over me, that's all. I promise I'll clean it all up, I just wanted to finish these first." Everyone's attention was brought back to the baked sweets, the sweet aroma mouth watering, and the sight of slightly crisped edges on an otherwise perfect shape was captivating.