Returning to the dorm for the day, Nat had just gotten back from spending some free time at the culinary club. It was a bit tough getting to know the other members, but she was learning a lot about cooking and the kitchen and all the tools they had there was way better than the dorms had. The dorms was a lot more suited to just making simpler meals and didn't really have the space for the kind of experimenting Nat liked to do.

This time she'd made a bunch of manju, in an older baked style where you squish the cream filling between two distinct pieces of the dough. Mostly she'd just intended to make enough to try out different fillings, but then she'd wanted to make sure she had extras of the different ones for other people to try and before she noticed she'd ended up with quite a lot of them. After giving away some the rest she brought back with her to the dorm, a little over a dozen of different fillings. She was curious what her own favorites would be, but more so Yoko's. Red bean, cheese, chestnut, or maybe one of the fruit filled ones like mango or strawberry? If they absolutely hated any of them she was sure she could find someone who would appreciate them more, so there wasn't any risk of food going to waste either.

More out of habit than actually needing to since her hands weren't that full today, Nat hooked her foot around the door as she came in to shut it again behind her. Eyes down at the ground to keep watch for Bastet on the off chance she tried to go for the door, she called out just loud enough to be heard on the off chance Yoko wasn't in the living room at the moment: "Yo, Yoko!"

Turning her attention to setting the bag of manju down on the counter, she tried to think of a similar greeting for Bastet... but did any greetings even start with a B?

[attr="class","likedo"]

"Good point." Nat agreed to the several smaller pizzas idea, deciding not to tease Yoko further for now. It was a fine line between good fun and being irritating, and Nat still wasn't sure exactly where that line was for most people... and she genuinely didn't want to ruin Yoko's mood. When her offer to pay her share was met with a jab of a finger and a flat refusal, Nat slightly raised one eyebrow and the corners of her lips twitched up into the barest hint of an amused smile. Nodding with a "If you insist... and thanks for the pizza, Yoko.", Nat considered how she might sneak around her roommate being stubborn about it. If they were ordering on Yoko's phone she couldn't very well swap cards or anything...

Putting that aside when Yoko left to go smoke, Nat gave her a little wave and a "Will do." before turning her attention to thinking about what to get. It didn't take long to decide on different topping combinations for various smaller pizzas that could be good, but Yoko still ended up being a bit faster to scurry back inside. And scurried right into her room before coming back out with a beanie and a scarf, the situation clicking in Nat's head - was it really fall already? She'd have to start considering dressing warmer herself, probably. "Yeah. Some of it might not end up either of our favorites, but its worth a try." She answered before turning her attention back to her own cooking.

These sorts of evenings were, though Nat wasn't consciously aware of it, some of her favorites in a long time. Trying different foods with someone who wasn't a picky eater, casual but not demanding conversation, and sometimes just listening to Yoko talk. With the new addition of Bastet, there was a kitten to give scritches to now and then too. Cleanup was a breeze and as predicted Yoko was out like a light soon after, and it wasn't long until Nat would go to her own room and fall asleep herself.

Later, whenever the opportunity arose, she was going to have to slip some Yen into Yoko's hoodie to pay her back for the pizza without her knowing. When she found it she'd just think she'd put it there herself and forgot about it. After all, wasn't it Yoko that told her not to just let other people tell her what to do all the time?

With a small incline of her head that could vaguely be interpreted as a nod, Nat set her bowl aside and retrieved a little plastic bag from the big pocket on her apron that was full of hair ties. They weren't very fancy, just a random assortment she had gotten from a big bag of them at the store, but it suited her just fine. She didn't normally have her hair up, and trying to go get some from her bag or something when she was busy cooking was a pain. It was faster to just keep them like this in her apron, since this was pretty much the only time she used them. Letting Momoiro take their pick of a hair tie before putting the baggie away, Nat turned her attention back to her baking before pausing to focus on the recipe in the book to double check that she wasn't making any mistakes again.

"I'm also a first year in the hero department... and no, you don't make me uncomfortable." She informed while reading, pursing her lips. She considered apologizing for her botched advice earlier, but that would probably just bother someone with the kind of disposition Momoiro seemed to have more than if they just moved past it. She needed to focus on baking too, since it was complicated and the recipe didn't exactly say what it meant all the time. She had heard you were supposed to let batter settle to get rid of trapped air, but was that only for big things like cakes? The recipe didn't mention needing to do that, so maybe it was fine not to in this case? Turning to Momoiro she asked: "Have you made manju before, Sakurai-san?"

In theory all she had to do was put a layer of the filling she wanted on top, bake it up, and then squish two halves together after they were done. Usually cheese or red bean paste, according to the recipe. It was an older version of manju, since it had sounded simpler and she had actually never tried it this way before. The ones she had tried the filling was completely enclosed in the bread, but this one was more like a sandwich with the filling between two pieces? At least, that was the best comparison she could think of.

Nat fully believed the stranger wasn't a creep. Most people would probably have found it a weird denial, but to Nat it came across like a helpful clarification. She actually hadn't considered the possibility that they were a creep to begin with, but it was still nice to be able to cross that off the list of possibilities. Even better was that they went on to explain why they were here, the blonde giving a very slight tilt of her head at the bowing and repeated apologies. Mentioning needing to watch what they eat seemed... strange to Nat, but she didn't say anything. To her, almost everyone at UAU had a pretty big appetite because of all the training they were all doing, Quirks often needing a lot of energy, and stuff like that. Maybe it was just a slow metabolism, or an excuse?

Cutting her thoughts short as they bowed and apologized again, Nat spoke up quickly. "Wait." Then she paused, thinking what she wanted to say before continuing. "If you apologize all the time, people will walk over you." It was something Yoko had told her and she felt it appropriate to pass the sentiment on. She wasn't sure if she should say anything else or not, but she got the impression this person wasn't the most self-confident. So more on a whim than anything, she added: "I didn't know there was a culinary club here either, and there's room to join if you want. And... For whatever its worth, training burns a lot of energy and you'll tone up before you know it. Even if you didn't, there's nothing wrong with how you look."

She didn't want to pry further than that, picking her bowl back up and resuming her mixing. She wasn't going to force them to stay, but she hoped they felt a little better at least if they did leave.

Nat felt a little silly with her dorm room cooking experiments in retrospect, since as it turns out the school had its very own culinary club. One that focused on the whole wide world of food too, not just one type of food. She still didn't mind making food for her and her roommate of course, especially because she was pretty sure Yoko would starve or try to live entirely on takeout otherwise, but the club was much better equipped for proper cooking and baking and all kinds of things than their bare bones dorm kitchen was. She didn't think she'd ever be an exceptional chef, but she was looking forward to seeing what she could make with the proper tools at her disposal. Plus, the other members of the club seemed friendly enough from what little she had seen of them so far, even if the club heads seemed to have some kind of philosophical conflict with each other that Nat was keeping herself out of.

Even if she privately agreed that taste mattered way more than presentation.

With a recipe book open on the counter in front of her, apron on over her UAU uniform, Nat double and triple checked that she had absolutely everything she needed before she got started. All the bowls, measuring cups, utensils, the different ingredients... Arms crossed under her chest, she gave a little nod to herself and started rolling her sleeves back and pulling her dreads into a ponytail - there wasn't much of a risk of stray hairs getting in food with dreadlocks, but she didn't want to risk it. It was standard procedure anyways, and Nat was going about it as methodically and by the book as she could. Today she was trying her hand at baking, and as far as she knew the important part there was getting the mix right and then the timing of the actual baking right. Starting with measuring all the wet and dry ingredients out separately, Nat was tentatively hopeful that this would turn out well.

Nat attempted to twist to make her kick land as it whiffed over the instructor, but that failed and the flash of movement caught her attention just a little bit too late to try and avoid her leg getting wrapped up. Landing with a frown on her face, Nat considered trying to crouch down to untie it but Yoko's call caught her and she narrowed her eyebrows in quick focus as she realized what she intended. "Got it!" She called back, turning her crouch into a jump and bracing herself for when Yoko yanked on the binding. It would probably jolt her a bit, but she wasn't likely to get her leg yanked painfully out from under her like if she had been standing when it happened.

More importantly, it let Yoko act more freely and it gave Nat herself some momentum to work with as she was flung towards her tied-leg-first. If she got a chance Nat intended to bring her free leg around into another kick at the instructor, hoping to put all that momentum into a sudden attack while she was focused on Yoko.

Miss or hit, as long as they were tied together they might as well make the most of it and she was counting on Yoko to have a plan of her own ready to go!