“Thank you!” He noted how effortlessly she slid the heavy bag over, but said nothing about it. Quietly admiring her strength and wondering what she was working on, the cook nearly missed her muttering under her breath. The vaguely familiar dialect pulled at his attention, nose wrinkling and lips turning down. Not all of what she said reached him, but he swore some of the words were ones he had heard before while living with his biological family in the North Blue.
Stepping closer and clearing his throat, he gave her an apologetic smile.
“Excuse me. Sorry, again, but I was… I didn’t mean to listen in, but it almost sounded like you were speaking the same language I used to speak where I’m from. May I ask where you learned that?”
Rebecca blinked before looking over at Sanji again, vibrant sapphire eyes wide as she processed what he had said. Now that she really looked, he had the same kind of nose as her dad… And her mother always said her dad was more native to France than she was.
“N-No, no, it’s okay. My mother taught it to me after I learned the language I’m speaking now, .”
“Are you French too? Y’sorta look it in the nose shape a little, if that makes sense.”
She may have been talking, but she was still mixing the cookie dough as she spoke, looking back at the dough to make sure she didn’t accidentally fling any of it out of the bowl. That happened once when she was a kid and never again.
She rattled off a sentence in French that roughly translated to ‘if you can understand this, I said that you’re a sweetheart before.’. She had a slight accent to her speech, since Japanese technically was her first language, not French.
He motioned towards the flour whilst will sporting an apologetic smile. While doing his own baking, he should have known better than to go in unprepared. Measuring out what he needed to use beforehand would have meant avoiding pestering the sweet-looking woman, but… deep down he didn’t regret it that much. Any excuse to talk to a cute girl was a good excuse.
“I only need a little flour, if that’s alright with you. I didn’t mean to disturb you, but my head is all over the place.” He chuckled softly. “Would it be alright if I borrowed the bag for a moment? I’ll bring it right back.”
“Go ahead and take what ya need~! It’s perfectly okay!”
She softly chirped in response, dusting off her hands on her light pink apron, her side braids swinging just a bit as she gently scooted the flour over to Sanji’s side of the counter. She seemed to have little to no issues moving it, showing her strength somewhat.
“There you go. I’m past the dry ingredients for this recipe, so it’s all good.”
Rebecca gave him a warm smile before turning back to the bowl, mumbling in French about how sweet he was for asking first as she expertly mixed the cookie dough without much issue.
“Ah, shit… Where did the flour go?” The poor cook was having one of those days. His mind and ingredients were scattered, having him a grumbling, frustrated mess on his side of the kitchen. Fingers in his hair, he turned to spot the only other person occupying the space. He had seen her around before and failed to introduce himself, but it was only because he always found her with her headset down — he never wanted to disturb her peace, so he never bothered to approach her.
Unfortunately, needed to poke at her now if he was going to ask to borrow the flour.
“Excuse me, mademoiselle.” He tapped at her shoulder and tried to hide his exhaustion behind a smile.
Rebecca twitched at the poke, a well-practiced motion bringing her headset up over her ears before she looked at the other blond. The French put a rather delighted sparkle in her eyes.
“Sup?”
She looked a little less exhausted, if only because she was halfway done with some cookie dough. Her brain realized that he probably needed something right when she put down her spoon though.
It was hard not to smile when she seemed so eager talk berries. The way her face lit up was contagious, a beaming smile plastering itself across the man’s stubbly face. “That depends on how many you’re willing to part with. I’ve been playing around with making Poké Puffs back home, and I wanted to see what a few made out of berries would taste like. I’ll take whatever you’re happy with giving me.”
Tilting to the side, Sanji peered past the woman to observe the rest of the trees. “But, I guess a little of each would be great if that’s alright with you. I wouldn’t want to take too many from you, even if they are gorgeous looking berries. Do you take care of them alone?”
“Poke Puffs? I know just the right ones for those!”
She immediately put her notebook away and motioned for him to follow, going straight for the Lum-Persim rows.
“If you’re making sweet as heck Puffs, a Pecha-Oran-Magost powder combo is the way to go. But if you’re looking for a mix of flavors, an Oran-Persim-Lum combination can give you just the right balance.”
She pointed to both yielding trees when she mentioned them, giving the other a warm smile.
“If you’re going for balanced, yet sweet, a small sprinkle of Pecha powder in the batter makes it just right.”
Then, her cheeks went a little pink. She had gone on a tangent again, whoops.
Freckles! So cute! Sanji inhaled deeply when the woman turned, the smattering of freckles across her kind face giving his heart a reason to skip a beat. She was every bit as cute and sweet as the berries she plucked, which would ( hopefully ) make buying berries easier than he thought.
“The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rebecca. I’m not familiar with the area, or the region, actually, but I heard that there was an impressive orchard around here and needed to check it out for myself. You’re the owner? Then you’re the one I’d talk to about buying some of these berries?”
Someone who hadn’t recognized her name right off the bat? This would be interesting, to say the least. Rebecca nodded in response to the question, lighting up even more than when he had said her orchard, the pride of her life, was impressive.
“Yup, I’m your girl to talk to for that! Which ones do you have your eyes on? I’ve got about ten growing here, one per row, from Cheri to Sitrus.”
She looked attentive, ready to jot down notes on the small notepad she pulled from her pocket along with a mechanical pencil.
He had spent a large chunk of time simply standing there and watching the other as they worked, the scent of the Pecha berries filling his nose. The smell was subtle but welcome, nostrils flaring as he felt himself relaxing. He loved the smell of his kitchen and how warm it could get when he worked, but there was something calming about the aroma that drifted off trees and their fruits.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t waste the rest of his day admiring the orchard. He had things to do, same as everyone else, and so little time to do it in. “Excuse me! I hope I’m not disturbing you, but I wanted to talk to the person in charge.”
Was that a voice she heard on the edge of her (lack of) hearing? It had been so faint that Rebecca almost thought she imagined it. Then she pulled her headphones up to her scarred ears and looked over at the blond.
“Oh! You’re not disturbing me at all! I don’t get many people coming to the Undella Outskirts just for the orchard. What do you need, sir? I’m the person in charge, Rebecca Bardot. A pleasure to meet you.”
A warm smile on her freckled face as she carefully put the basket of Pecha berries down on the ground next to the tree she had been harvesting.
Rebecca hummed to herself, picking Pecha berries from the trees that almost towered above her and plonking them into the basket she was holding, unable to hear someone approaching her orchard while she worked.
Her headphones were around her neck, scarred ears in full view of anyone who managed to sneak up on her.
Back in the Game 