Private Finished At the Foot of the Bed with Celeste

Shale was so intensely overcome by emotion in this moment that he legitimately thought for a few moments he might faint, more so than ever when Celeste called him her son. His arms were draped limply around her neck, in general sort of ragdolled due to the surreal outpour of joy from them both.

"I don't...what should we do? We could, um...we could...aah, it's just so hard to think right now about anything other than how wonderful this all is!" He really didn't want to let go, as if doing so would let the moment slip away, but after another several minutes he finally parted, sniffling and scooting back against the headboard of her bed. "...Can I cook you breakfast, mom? I know I haven't done it before, but I want to try my best for you. I want to do so many things for you, I just...I can't tell you how happy I am, there aren't enough words!"

Shale grinned at this, giggling at her joke and snuggling her one more time before sliding off the bed, bouncing back on his heels in excitement. His hands were still a little jittery and shaky, the emotions not having fully calmed yet. "Alright! I'll make something really good, don't worry. Um, you can...I kind of want to surprise you. Maybe while I make you something you could...oh! Hold on, I'll be right back!"

The boy ran out of her room, sliding a little on the floor in his haste but catching himself, and then hurrying to the bathroom. After ten minutes or so, he came back into Celeste's room with a big smile on his face, waving for her to follow him. "Okay, I have something for you to enjoy while I'm making breakfast." He seemed pretty excited to show her, whatever it was.

Shale shook his head, opening up his hands to show that there was nothing in them. "Nothing here! It's in the bathroom, come on!~" He came back over to her to take her hand gently, still kind of shaky from how overwhelming it all was. Whenever they made it to the bathroom, he did a goofy little bow and waved her in, opening the door to reveal a particularly bubbly bubble bath, warmed up very nicely, with a few complementary scented candles arranged as well.

"It might be a silly idea, but, um...yeah! I thought you might enjoy relaxing in here for a bit while I'm cooking for you. I can come and get you whenever I'm done, and...umm...is that okay?" He looked up at her with an unmistakable twinkle of pure affection and happiness in his eyes, hugging her once more and holding her close. "I'm going to keep saying it because it's true, but I love you."

Shale was absolutely ecstatic that Celeste seemed to appreciate the bath he had set up; it warmed his heart that his gesture was taken well. The gargoyle gave his soon to be mom another, perhaps too tight hug before nodding and rushing out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Just relax, mom! You'll have breakfast ready in no time." His heart and mind were both racing in almost equal measure as he headed into the kitchen, hands a bit shaky as he started scanning over the various appliances and ingredients.

It soon dawned on Shale that he hadn't the faintest wisp of an idea of what to do in here, what anything at all did, or how to even begin to approach it. Searching through the kitchen for another few minutes, he finally stumbled on an old, musty family cookbook, cracking it open and squinting at the pages. French. Of course it was in French, why wouldn't it be? Well...he'd simply have to go off of the picture of the finished product. Crepes? They looked like thin pieces of...beige...paper. Well, he did vaguely remember Celeste mentioning making these before, and the gist of the ingredients needed. Gathering a bowl, whisk, and an assortment of probably correct ingredients, he set to work on what he was sure couldn't end up as that much of a disaster. Hopefully.

Needless to say, Shale had gotten entirely in over his head as far as this whole cooking experiment went. He had batter all over him, several broken whisks were scattered around, he had somehow lost his socks during the ordeal. When Celeste showed up and exclaimed at the scene, his eyes widened in horror, not even realizing more than ten minutes had passed. "Wh...mom! What are you doing here already!?" He scrambled to find a towel and started frantically wiping down the counter, very nearly slipping in the catastrophic batter mess.

"It isn't, uhhh, it's still cooking! I'm working on...everything's totally fine!" Shale gave her a strained, panicked smile, then continued fruitlessly scrubbing at a section of countertop and inevitably making it much worse. One hand was just sitting on an entirely too hot griddle, the batter smeared all over it bubbling and sizzling, but with his heat resistance it didn't bother him much at all. "I'll have everything ready in no time, so, aaah, just enjoy your bath!"