Viper Manor ~ Kitchen ~ October 31, 2020

Despite being seven months pregnant with her first child, Svetlana Viper – formerly Kaminski – was still quite an active witch. She was on maternity leave from her position as Healer at Saint Mungo’s, but there was still quite a lot to keep her busy. It took her a lot longer to reach her destinations for she did not at all like the idea of apparating or using the floo in her condition, and feared catching airborne illnesses by flight. The feeling of a tug near the navel, and thus near her unborn child, also excluded portkeys. But she had her ways of getting around to places she wished, even if she had to check half a dozen times to make sure the baby was alright.

Merlin knew she’d never forgive herself if something happened to it in her need to get out of the manor. She didn’t even want to think of her husband’s disappointment in such an instant. Thus she was always checking for a kick here, a slight shift in position there...

It was surprising to think of this as her first wedding anniversary. Why, it hardly seemed that long ago that she and Dracovan had a spectacular Halloween-themed wedding. Sveta could still vividly remember her shifts in costume throughout the night: from a chaste angel to a ‘sexy vampiric bride’ to a seductive harem girl... the last one being a “for Dracovan’s eyes only” costume for the start of their honeymoon.

Unfortunately, unless she made some modifications to that costume, it would not fit her in her current state. ’Next year...’ she mused, a bit of mischief lighting up and playing about her face.

She had not yet dressed in her costume, for there was still much to do yet. Halloween happened to be a favorite holiday of hers, and Dracovan’s obviously. Given it was also the day in which they were wed, it made the occasion all that much more special to her; which was precisely why she was to be found in the kitchen. Though she wasn’t to be on her feet very much, Svetlana insisted she could still sit up and do things just like a normal person. For her child’s safety however she did most of her work with the assistance of magic. And what was a witch seven months along in pregnancy doing on her wedding anniversary?

Making a cake, of course! And not just any cake... Her husband’s favorite cake: chocolate rum. Even the buttercream icing, and the rolled fondant for some but not all of the decorations, had been flavored with chocolate and rum.

A larger circular cake sat beneath a smaller one of the same shape, both iced with vivid red. Her initial plan had been to make the cake orange and black, but she’d added far too much red and hadn’t enough yellow to counter it. Only after giving it some thought did she realize her mistake could be flipped around to appear intentional. Red and black worked just as well for Halloween as orange and black.

While she contemplated how to go about the rest of the decorations, the witch set a bowl of the buttercream icing she’d made to work mixing in a combination of food colors... the goal being to make a deep purplish black to compliment the red. Svetlana knew she wanted to make a few spiderwebs and perhaps a bow... and thus summoned to her side some piping bags, tips, and caps, beginning to assemble them.

Spoiler:

Viper Manor, domain of the old, albeit nearly extinct, Viper Clan stood just as it had for the last five centuries: in peaceful, almost eerie, silence. The Manor, with it's gothic architecture, was adorned with various ancient, medieval styled furniture and works of art; some of them the only copy to ever have existed. No, they were not stolen! Simply.... borrowed. Yes, borrowed without permission, or any intent to give it back. Many of the Manor's previous owners and residents had cherished the furniture and works of art more than their very life, spending endless hours setting spells and charms ensuring the immortality of it all. However, to one little girl, the furniture was at the moment, no more than obstacles on her quest to the "secret candy stash".

"Cookie! Cookie, baby, please don't run! Careful, careful!" Viper breathed out as she trailed after her one year old daughter. The child wasn't actually quite running yet. In fact, the infant's method of mobility involved a clumsy almost march-like walk, typical of children her age. She was doing rather well, and was moving as gracefully as she could. However, like every Mother, particularly a new one, she was protective over her daughter and couldn't help but worry despite the infant only being less than two feet ahead of her.

The little girl, however, had other things on her young mind than her mother's worry. "Tandi, tandi!" she chanted over and over again as she continues hobbling her way through the manor.

Viper could only laugh softly at her daughter's reply. It seemed that the child only had two things on her mind: playtime with Daddy, and candy. In fact, one of her first words after Papa and Mama had been candy, or 'tandi', to be specific. "Yes, yes, you'll get your 'tandi', don't fret." she uttered in a soft, mock-exasperated tone, opening the kitchen door for her daughter with her free arm, the one not holding Lara's Halloween costume, and main reason for their short visit to the Manor.

Lara giggled with excitement as she made her way into the kitchen, her emerald eyes brightening with glee as she noticed her Aunt Sveta there was well before stumbling at last, falling right on her butt. However, instead of crying like most infants would, Lara smiled and giggled before asking in a hopeful tone "Tandi?"

Sveta looked up when the door opened, almost panicking upon thinking that it was Dracovan. Immediately she cast an illusion charm over the evidence of planning something special and nervously anticipated the arrival of the person or persons at the other side of the door...

And was greeted by none other than little Lara, her precious angel of a niece. A warm smile lit up the witch’s features as the one-year-old toddled over, gasping when the child stumbled and landed on her behind. She had been about to ask the little one if she was alright, but decided such a question unnecessary after seeing the smile and hearing a peal of giggles that didn’t generally occur with falling. Then again, Sveta noted with pride, Lara was not like most her age.

“Privyet, ‘Cookie’ dear,” Sveta greeted the girl using the nickname commonly associated with Lara, muttering a spell to levitate the girl off the floor. Being seven months pregnant, she didn’t dare try to hoist the child physically. Thus, she set the girl upon the counter, a few feet away from the cake decorating materials. “Auntie Sveta doesn’t have any ‘tandi’ sveetheart... but I do have frosting,” she said, leaning forward to give Lara a kiss on the forehead. A special spoon from the silverware drawer floated over and dipped itself into the black frosting. Taking the floating spoon, Sveta held it out to Lara. “Vould you like this vhile I find you some ‘tandi’?” she asked, smiling ear to ear. It was plain chocolate frosting... some she’d reserved special for a little cake of Lara’s own.

Taking her eyes off her niece for just a moment, Sveta glanced up and smiled to her double-sister-in-law. “Happy Halloween, Amaranth! Dracovan is not out there vith you, is he?” she nearly cheered and then whispered, going from nearly one end of the spectrum to the other. It was an excited sort of whisper as opposed to a frightened one.

The bright smile constantly present on Lara's face only brightened by her Aunt's presence. A wave of giggles escaped her and echoed through the atmosphere as her Aunt levitated her unto the counter. "Pivyet!" she replied brightly, in an attempt to repeat the greeting in Russian. While her young age still left her making quite a few mistakes and limited linguistically, that didn't stop her at all when it came to being sociable and at least attempting to communicate with people, especially when it came to her family.

Emerald orbs curiously looked around the room at the various new "toys" her Aunt seemed to have in the kitchen. The infant didn't know what exactly everything was, but it sure looked fun! Maybe if she was extra nice, Aunt Sveta would let her play with her "toys"...

The pools of emerald widened with delight as their owner eagerly nodded, focusing on the spoon of what appeared to be a little bite of heaven to the young girl. "Pasiba!" Lara exclaimed as she reached for the spoon, literally digging into the spoonful of frosting, smearing most of it upon her face. With her entire mouth covered in chocolate, she flashed her aunt a grin in thanks, licking her lips in happiness.

From the doorway, Viper smiled with serene happiness. It gave her no greater joy than to see her daughter happily playing and interacting with family members. As a child herself, growing up, she never had a large, loving family surrounding her like Lara did, which made her even more thankful that she was able to give her daughter what she herself had been denied. She couldn't help but laugh lightly at her daughter's now frosting smeared appearance, wishing she had a camera. While she had once never imagined being a Mother, now that it had all happened, she couldn't remember or imagine a day without her little girl, or husband, and didn't even want to try to.

"Hey, doll. Happy Halloween!" Viper greeted her sister-in-law brightly, though she had to admit, not with nearly as much enthusiasm as Sveta. "No, I think he's still out." she added in regards to her brother's whereabouts.

"Wow, it looks great, Sveta." she complimented as she gazed around the baking and supplies with wonder, impressed by Sveta's baking skills. "You know, I have to say, this Manor has been around for nearly as long as Hogwarts, but I daresay that you're the first human to ever actually cook in it." she observed with an amused smile.

She shook her head in mock exasperation at her daughter as she approached the infant from behind, smoothing out the raven locks with a gentleness only motherhood could teach her, all the while with a happy smile upon her face. "Oh my dear, it never ceases to amaze me just how incredible your sweet tooth is, and make me wonder where did you get it." the smile grew slightly as an amusing thought hit her, and she added "I wonder if I had made your nickname 'Celery' if you would have been more prone to healthier foods..." she trailed off in light, melodic laughter.

"So are you and Dracovan doing anything special for your anniversary?" Viper asked Sveta curiously as she placed Lara's wrapped halloween costume next to her and began fixing the infant's hair with a small, conjured brush, pressing a light kiss upon her daughter's forehead.